Rachel has published a detailed, comprehensive and realistic report into how a children’s service could be returned to the Alexandra Hospital.
Back in 2019, Rachel was re-elected with an overwhelming mandate to fight to return a maternity and children’s service to the town’s hospital.
Since then, and despite the impact of the pandemic, she has been doing everything she can to deliver on the promise she has made.
Published today (September 26th), Rachel’s report called ‘Returning a Children’s Service to the Alexandra Hospital,’ clearly makes the case for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust to provide an A&E which treats children and an inpatient paediatric service once again at Redditch’s hospital.
This is the second of two reports that Rachel has published as part of her campaign to return services to the Alex. Back in July, Rachel published a report into how a maternity service could be provided at the Alex.
The report sets out why Rachel believes the Alex needs an A&E which can treat children, as well as in inpatient ward for children to be transferred to.
It also looks at how children’s services are provided in other parts of England, including North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which serves a similar population size to Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, where inpatient children’s services are provided at two hospitals.
The comprehensive document also sets out how record Government investment in the NHS and the recruitment of more doctors and nurses supports the return of a children’s service to the Alex.
Rachel said:
“Ever since I was re-elected in 2019, I have been doing everything I can to ensure children in Redditch can once again be treated at the Alex.
“During the emergency phase of the pandemic there were times where it would not have been appropriate of me to raise this campaign when rightly the Trust was focussed on saving as many lives as possible.
“However, the work behind the scenes never stopped and this has culminated in this comprehensive, detailed and realistic report which forms part of my Long-Term Plan for the Alex which will also be published in due course.
“The report clearly makes the case for how the Acute Trust can once again provide an inpatient children’s services at our hospital, ensuring children no longer have to travel to Worcester for emergency and overnight treatment.
“With record funding going into our NHS, with more doctors and nurses being recruited, with the Acute Trust now out of special measures and after the Government wrote off the Trust’s historic debt, this can only support the case for this service to be returned.
“My report has been sent to the Chief Executive of our Acute Trust and the Chief Executive of NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire, and they must now respond in detail to the points that have been made in the report.
“I’ve never promised it would be easy to return services to the Alex, but I’ve never given up on anything in my life and I’m not about to start now.”
The two reports that have been produced form part of Rachel’s Long-Term Plan for the Alex which will be published shortly.
“We’re in a much more positive place with the Alex compared to when I was first elected five years ago,” Rachel added.
“Therefore its right my vision for our hospital that I set out back then is refreshed and updated to reflect where we are now and where we hope to be in the future.
“My Long-Term Plan for the Alex will set out the bright future ahead for our much-loved hospital.”
