North Somerset Weston Hospital public meeting report

Weston Area Health Trust is not able to meet the requirements of Foundation Trust status due to the size of its budgets and workforce. As it is not able to become a Foundation Trust on its own, the alternatives for the Trust are either, to be acquired by another NHS organisation or to find a partner to manage and run the services . If a private hospital provider took over the running of Weston General Hospital it would remain within the NHS, with NHS staff and NHS patients.

There has been a great deal of publicity and speculation in the local and national media about the future of Weston General Hospital and the Healthwatch North Hospital Public Meeting 10/12/2013. Somerset Public meeting was held to give a voice to the public and to seek their views on the future of the hospital.

The meeting took place on Tuesday 10th December from 10.30am-12noon at the Vintage Church, Hughenden Road, Weston-super-Mare BS23 2UR and was attended by 30 members of the public.

The findings highlighted it was clear from the meeting that the public did not fully understand what is happening at Weston General Hospital and that there was a great deal of misinformation and concern about the future of the hospital. Despite a wide range of information disseminated by Weston Area Health Trust (WAHT) including a dedicated website (http://www.securingthefuture.net/) it was evident that this information had not reached the public effectively. It was also clear that the public value Weston General Hospital and sought reassurance about its future.