Rutland and Melton MP Alicia Kearns has secured Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Clinical Commissioning Group’s commitment to protect Rutland Memorial Hospital.
Since her election in December 2019, Ms Kearns has been calling for a sustainable and long-term plan for healthcare across Rutland from expanded GP provision up to a sustainable long term investment plan for Rutland Memorial Hospital.
The Rutland MP has expressed her disappointment that the ongoing Better Hospitals CCG consultation does not have more of a focus on Rutland.
In a response a letter she wrote to the CCG, Ms Kearns has received written confirmation that the CCG has no plans to close Rutland Memorial, and instead has plans to refurbish or develop new facilities and deliver as much care as possible locally.
The CCG’s Chief Executive Andy Williams wrote to Ms Kearns:
‘With regard to the future of community services in Rutland, we had hoped to engage with Rutlanders – as well as other communities – during the earlier part of the year to together develop local plans for what local health and care services should look like in their area. This plan would include discussions relating to GP provision and the usage of local infrastructure, such as the community hospital, to deliver a greater range of services locally. This is a central tenet of our overall clinical strategy, which is to deliver as much care as we can as close to where patients live as is practically possible. This hasn’t been possible in the way we had hoped because of Coronavirus. However, we are committed to picking up these conversations in earnest in the coming months. In the meantime, and to reassure you, I want to be clear that the CCG does not have any plans to close Rutland Memorial Hospital. Rather, our expectation is that discussions will focus on working with the local community to identify services that can and should be delivered locally through the refurbishment of the hospital or the development of new facilities, potentially in partnership with other local public sector bodies, should that be deemed to be preferable or more viable.’
Rutland and Melton MP, Alicia Kearns, said:
“I am delighted to have secured the CCG’s commitment that Rutland Memorial Hospital will be protected, and indeed developed and refurbished to deliver as much care as possible locally. I was elected on a commitment to improve local access to healthcare and this is an extremely important step to securing the sustainable healthcare Rutlanders deserve and to ending the worries locally that we would be stripped of Rutland memorial.”
The Rutland MP previously secured the Prime Minister’s support for her campaign to expand GP service provision in Rutland.
