THACKLEY TRUMPIT JUNE 2014 ECCLESHILL TREATMENT CENTRE

Possible Closure of Eccleshill Treatment Centre

A reader in Idle contacted me last month regarding the closure of  the Eccleshill Treatment Centre and has received the following information and is happy to pass it on to all Trumpit readers.
From: Jeanette Sunderland 
Hello Peter 
I understand that you have rung the office about the Eccleshill Treatment Centre. Please see below the latest info put out be David (about an hour ago). If you want anything else then please don't hesitate to get in touch. Hope all is well. Jeanette
Eccleshill Treatment Centre
Care UK was awarded the contract to provide services at Eccleshill Treatment Centre from July 2010. The Treatent Centre was one of the first Independent Treatment Centres in the country and was established in 2005.
The current contract for the services provided from Eccleshill Treatment Centre started in July 2010 and was awarded to a private company, Care UK, for three years and extended for one year to allow for a new contract to be awarded. Contracts for services for patients in Bradford are awarded by the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG’s)  Intensive efforts are being made to ensure that services currently provided by Care UK at the Eccleshill Treatment Centre continue to be provided, either at the Centre by other qualified providers for example by another private contractor or by the National Health Service itself or elsewhere if capacity spare capacity exists.
I have been told that Care UK "are being fantastic with staff" in terms of informing them about what is happening. There still seems to be a lack of understanding about what has happened and why Care UK was not awarded the contract for a further three years. This lack of understanding is not helped by the failure of the CCG to publicly state, in detail, why the contract was not renewed. The CCG state that this failure to provide further details is because of the commercial sensitivity of the information at a time when the CCG is working hard to find alternative providers. This may well be true but it is resulting in not only a degree of suspicion about the motive behind the failure to renew the contract but also a belief by some of the Care UK staff that they are purposely being kept in the dark. At a time when the Care UK staff are fearful of their futures this can only make matters worse for them.
The whole issue was discussed at a meeting of the Council's Health and Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 7 May. Because of the commercial confidentiality already referred to, the meeting had to go into a private session with the public excluded. In the public session of the meeting it became quite clear that the contract with Care UK has been subsidised with funding that had to be taken elsewhere from the NHS budget. The meeting agreed to receive a report after the 7th July with details of the services that would continue to be provided after the present contract with Care UK came to its end.
Progress by the CCG in ensuring that services continue to be available after the 7th July were reported to a meeting of GPs and Practice Managers on 8th May. It seems that some of the work currently carried out at the Eccleshill Treatment Centre will continue to be carried out there by qualified providers* with some of the other work being carried out elsewhere by existing providers. The CCG gave assurances that the    Eccleshill Treatment Centre will not close. The following services of the Eccleshill Community Hospital Campus are NOT affected by the retendering of services from the Treatment Centre and continue as normal. These are the Eccleshill Community Hospital, Ashcroft Surgery, GP Out of Hours Service, Ear, nose and throat services (ENT), the Community Hospital and the Musculoskeletal (MSK) services.
In Westminster, I have met with the Head of Hospital Inspections for the Care Quality Commission and received reassurances that anyone who takes over these contract would be subject to rigorous monitoring and regulation.
*A qualified provider can either be a part of the National Health Service or a private contractor. Since April 2012, patients have more choice about which health services they can use within the NHS. The Any Qualified Provider (AQP) scheme means that, for some conditions, patients will be able to choose from a range of approved providers, such as hospitals or high street service providers. Patients and GPs can choose a service based on what's important to them – perhaps one that is closer to home, has a shorter waiting list or better outcomes.
With Best Wishes  David Ward MP

Eccleshill Treatment Centre
I have again discussed with the CCG the progress that is being made to protect the services provided at the Eccleshill Treatment Centre (ETC). I have been assured that intensive efforts are being made by the CCG to seek a way forward that involves maximising the provision of NHS services in the ETC when the existing contract with Care UK ends on 7th July.  
All the adverts for Alternative Qualified Providers are now out but there then has to be a four week period so they can write their bids and we will know the level of interest. A tentative expression of interest in taking over the whole of the building has been received from two potential service providers but it would contravene the strict procurement rules to develop these further until the tender period has ended when all expressions of interest can be evaluated.
The building is not owned by the CCG (it is owned by NHS Property Services) and this adds to the complexity of seeking future service providers.
It is important to once again stress that the Community Hospital, Ashcroft GP Surgery & GP out-of-hours service are all unaffected by the changes that are now being considered for the ETC.
The CCG will be shortly providing a more detailed update along with a comprehensive Q&A statement which will be published on their website  www.bradfordcityccg.nhs.uk/ 
With Best Wishes   David Ward MP

Let us all hope this matter will be resolved to the satisfaction of all concerned and the area has its Treatment Centre back in operation as swiftly as possible. Thank you Peter for your efforts in this controversial matter.