Tomorrow's NUH

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) wanted to find out local people’s views on the proposed changes to NUH and commissioned Healthwatch Nottingham and Nottinghamshire to involve people in developing these proposals, particularly from more vulnerable groups.  In December 2020 Healthwatch Nottingham and Nottinghamshire spoke to 150 people via a survey and three focus groups, focusing on people from specific cohorts including: Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic and Refugees (BAMER); People with long term conditions/poor health outcomes; People with a disability; Frail older people; Maternity service users; Young people, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people (LGBT).

People were very positive about the idea of modernising the hospitals; receiving emergency treatment at one hospital; better mental health care - especially in A&E; care closer to home, meaning less travel to busy hospital sites; separating emergency and elective care, if this meant fewer operations would be cancelled; more and better cancer screening and the use of online and telephone consultations where appropriate. At the same time, people highlighted negative points about the plans, particularly about how they would be resourced, in terms of money, staffing and space in the community; how the changes would be implemented; the potential fragmentation of care; changes to the current model of women and children’s services; and the extent to which remote consultations would be successful and the attention given to the needs of specific groups such as BAMER and people with disabilities

The recommendations concern staffing, a choice of appointments, communication and cultural issues.