Stafford hospital crisis: County Hospital's A&E to remain shut to children for next 10 weeks

Hospital trust chiefs today announced it had requested a review of services to highlight recommendations to improve safety in the long-term.

Bosses at Universal Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, which runs the Weston Road site, requested the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) to carry out a review of the service

It comes after the services was branded 'clinically unsafe' and was temporarily suspended on August 25.

This will take about ten weeks to complete but the trust has stated it is looking to put measures in place to treat minor injuries much sooner than that.

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Mr Robert Courteney-Harris, Chief Executive, said: "We fully understand and sympathise with the on-going concern from our local community following the decision to temporarily suspend Children's Emergency services.

"We recognise that a small number of patients and their families have now had to travel further for non-urgent treatment and we are very sorry for this.

"However, ignoring external advice about the safety of our services could put some children's lives at risk, something the Trust is simply not prepared to do.

"Our priority since the service was suspended has been to work out how we can get safe children's services into County Hospital as quickly as possible. Last week our senior clinicians met with commissioners and other partners to discuss the best way forward, and a number of actions have been agreed.

"We have asked the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) to carry out a review of our CEC service as a whole, and to make recommendations about how this could be made safe in the long term. "This process will take about ten weeks.

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"In the meantime, we hope to be able to put in place some elements of children's services at County Hospital much more quickly than this. Most of the children who access our service have fairly straightforward needs, so we are looking at ways of putting in a service to deal with minor injuries such as broken limbs or bad sprains, as a short term solution. This would minimise inconvenience to families without compromising on patient safety.

"The RCPCH have identified a Trust in the South West who operate a clinical model in which a children's minor injuries unit is co-located alongside an adult A&E which we hope to be able to replicate safely. We are organising a visit to them as soon as possible to consider whether this could be achieved.

"We will be involving the Care Quality Commission and NHSI in both pieces of work so we can receive their support and oversight."

Mr Courteney-Harris added that he had spoken with Stafford MP Jeremy Lefroy last week to address concerns raised by constituents.

He said: "We are very grateful to our partners in the West Midlands Ambulance Service, to local GPs and to surrounding Trusts at Burton and Wolverhampton for their assistance in ensuring that local children and young people are managed safely whilst the temporary suspension is in place.

"Local Clinical Commissioning Groups, our local Borough and County Councils and NHS England and NHS Improvement have also provided both constructive challenge and support.

"I would also like to thank staff across the Trust for adapting quickly and professionally to circumstances in a very positive way, and to the public for their understanding whilst we find a solution that keeps children safe."

"We met Jeremy LeFroy MP last week to discuss concerns on behalf of his constituents, and he asked us to ensure that all local MPs and other stakeholders were given regular updates on this issue.

"We intend to provide a weekly briefing via our communications team, so that all partners and the public are fully sighted on progress."