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An eight-week public engagement exercise about services at the hospital launches on Monday (20 June) and runs until midnight on Sunday 14 August.
The programme of continuous improvement, called Healthy Weston Phase 2, aims to support the hospital to thrive and deliver the care that local people need most often.
The plans have been developed by senior doctors, nurses, and health and care staff with input from the public as well as staff at the hospital.
They have been designed to secure a sustainable future for the hospital and to ensure it can attract and retain the staff it needs in the long-term.
Weston General Hospital wants to strengthen three specific service areas, while continuing to provide and improve the range of services it offers now.
The hospital wants to:
- become a centre of surgical excellence. This means thousands more planned operations for adults of all ages will be carried out at Weston General Hospital
- become a centre of excellence for older people’s care. This means the hospital will provide more specialised care for older people, as well as a wide range of services for people of all ages
- help more people go home quickly after going into hospital in an emergency. The hospital will have a dedicated unit for assessing and treating people quickly.
Weston General Hospital will continue to provide A&E services from 8am to 10pm every day, as it has for the last five years.
All other services will continue as they do now, such as outpatient appointments, maternity care, children’s services, cancer care, diagnostic tests like x-rays, intensive care, emergency surgery and stroke rehabilitation.
People of any age who need emergency surgery will continue to have it at Weston General Hospital and will stay for as long as the need to recover, exactly like now.
Under the proposed new model, Weston General Hospital will focus on helping people get home quicker after accidents, emergencies or other unplanned care.
The majority of people who arrive at the hospital in an emergency will still receive care at Weston.
A small number of people who need longer inpatient care for specific things, such as lung or stomach problems, will be transferred to a hospital with the required specialist staff and equipment. They will get the best care for their needs so they can get home quicker.
The NHS Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group is hosting some public events for people to find out more:
- Thursday 30 June, 1-3pm, The Grand Pier, Weston-super-Mare. A face-to-face event. Register your attendance through Eventbrite
- Monday 18 July, 6-8pm (online). Register through Eventbrite.
If you have any questions you can also email bnssg.healthy.weston@nhs.net or call 0117 900 2633.