Insights from public consultation on proposed changes to community hospital services published

A draft report of feedback received during the recent NHS consultation led by NHS Mid and South Essex Integrated Care Board has been published.

Over 5,400 people took part in the public consultation which ran from 25 January to 11 April 2024 into areas of NHS community hospital services including:

• proposals to make potential changes to the places where some community hospital intermediate care and stroke rehabilitation services are provided.

• a proposal to make permanent the temporary move of the freestanding midwife-led birthing unit in mid and south Essex from St Peter’s Hospital, Maldon to the William Julien Courtauld Unit at Braintree Community Hospital
• proposals on the possibility of moving all other patient services at St Peter’s Hospital, Maldon to other locations, mostly in and around Maldon

“We would like to thank the thousands of people who took the time to give their views during our public consultation.

We want to make sure we have considered all views and suggestions on any alternative service models that may have been suggested through the public consultation.

People who provided feedback now have an opportunity to review the consultation report to ensure it reflects what they have said, as it is very important that we have this information available to us when we come to make our decision about the future of community and midwifery services across mid and south Essex.”

Dr Matt Sweeting, Executive Medical Director for NHS Mid and South Essex

The draft public consultation report is available on the ICB website and on the Virtual Views engagement platform, along with a video presentation to explain the findings.

People are invited to review the report to make sure it accurately reflects the feedback they provided during the consultation. You can provide feedback by emailing NHSConsultation@WeAreStand.co.uk or by writing to: Stand, Enterprise House, Barnard Castle DL12 8XT, by 31 July 2024.

A public online feedback session has been organised to take place on 18th July at 6.30pm, where people can hear directly from the independent analysts who drafted the report.

Register for online feedback session

The feedback received during the consultation will be used to inform the decision-making process, which will be presented at an extraordinary Mid and South Essex ICB Board meeting.

This meeting is scheduled to take place as a meeting in public on 30 September 2024. Further information about this meeting will be available on the NHS Mid and South Essex website in due course. At this meeting, all feedback and evidence will be given careful consideration as part of the decision-making process.