NHS boss sorry having 'insulted' Rugby councillors over St Cross row

Professor Andy Hardy, chief executive of University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire (UHCW), attended Warwickshire County Council’s adult social care & health overview & scrutiny committee to answer questions over development plans for the hospital and the closure of Hoskyn Ward.

It came around a week after borough councillors in Rugby unanimously supported a motion to ask the NHS to reconsider the closure decision amid a public backlash that resulted in marches through the town by concerned residents and hospital staff.

The county’s scrutiny panel looks at areas such as these and includes representation from Warwickshire’s five district and borough councils.

Prof Hardy and his chief strategy and transformation officer Justine Richards gave a presentation on wider plans to expand St Cross as a surgical hub that does not focus on emergency or complex operations, the idea being that patients on long waiting lists will be dealt with quicker without the disruption that can occur on sites that also have the pressures of emergency medicine.

On the Hoskyn Ward closure, which is set to happen on Wednesday (December 4), they both insisted staff had been informed in the normal way with no job losses and all 40 being redeployed at their chosen locations – in Rugby or at Coventry.

They said the withdrawal of the 25 beds was as a result of swifter care provision being put in place for Coventry patients leaving hospital, meaning they did not stay in hospital for as long, and that there had been no reduction in places for patients from Rugby or Warwickshire.

Councillors criticised

Having delivered the presentation, Prof Hardy was asked to provide reassurance over the staffing issue and immediately went on the front foot.

“We followed our normal management of change process,” he said.

“We said people would get a letter to confirm what their new roles would be last week and they got those last Wednesday, so there is no confusion. Every single member of staff has been written to.

"I am just going to say this now, it won’t be very popular, council members at Rugby (Borough) Council have not helped this process whatsoever. They have caused confusion and misled some of the public.

"You have seen today the investments that have gone into St Cross, the proposed investments that are going in over the next few years. This has been communicated widely to Rugby councillors and they have not passed that on to the people they serve. It is really frustrating.”

Councillor Heather Timms (Con, Earl Craven/Revel & Binley Woods) serves on the county and borough councils and is one of the 10-strong cabinet that makes major decisions at county level. She was not happy.

“People don’t take to the streets and march if they are being consulted with and told what the outcomes are going to be, as you have very clearly done today,” she said.

“We had a (borough) council meeting where it was completely cross-party. We agreed that we had all heard from staff who were not happy, not knowing where their jobs were. As they only had the letter last week, I can understand that. I hope they were talked to before they had a letter.

“As a Rugby councillor, I did not know what was happening until it was in the paper. I went on marches with other people because I believe that St Cross is absolutely central to Rugby – we are the fastest growing town in the Midlands, that is a fact and it has been for a number of years.

“Your reaction to it has, quite frankly, been slow. I don’t want to be insulted as a councillor by being told we haven’t helped the process. If we had been informed, we would have helped.

“If your staff were confused then we were probably in the same boat, so please, steer away from that particular argument and let’s have a constructive consultation.”

Rugby Borough Council's chief exec saw plans 'on multiple occasions'

Those sentiments were echoed by councillors of both levels from various parts of Warwickshire throughout the rest of a discussion that lasted more than an hour.

However, both Prof Hardy and Ms Richards were adamant that staff had been told before stakeholders and promised that St Cross would continue to be invested in.

On claims from or about the staff, Ms Richards said: “We read some of that and feel really uncomfortable with it. We don’t want that. We employ 11,000 people, 40 are affected by this change at St Cross.

“Nobody is comfortable with change, that is a difficult process for anyone but most of those people are working through that with us.

“We have had multiple one-to-ones with every member of staff (involved), we have had team briefs... Our intention was and continues to be to put our staff at the centre of this.”

Ms Richards also said that the overall proposals at St Cross had been the subject of ongoing dialogue with a Rugby-specific panel, adding: “Up until very recently, only last month, it was chaired by the chief executive of Rugby Borough Council Mannie Ketley.

“I have personally presented these development plans to that partnership on multiple occasions.

“For me, we are not getting something right here because I am using the (communication) channels that I believe are available to me, I am doing my best to share everything, there is no secret plan.”

NHS advised to avoid the blame game

Communication issues were at the heart of the rest of the debate with Chris Bain, chief executive of Healthwatch Warwickshire, an organisation formed to act as the voice of patients, arguing the process should have been handled differently.

“The first time I heard of these developments was on social media,” he said.

“I think the lesson that has to be learned is that you need to talk to your allies before it ever gets to social media.

“We could have been quite helpful in getting some of the messages over. That probably shouldn’t have happened (in the way that it did).

“It has been said that campaigns are the language of the excluded. The lesson of this isn’t to say ‘you shouldn’t feel excluded, we have contacted you’, it is to ask ‘why are you feeling excluded, what have we done, or not done, that has made you feel excluded’. That is a really important lesson.”

Advocating local government as an early sounding board in such decisions, Mr Bain continued: “St Cross is not acting in isolation, it is part of a health and care system in Rugby that is under particular pressure.

“Right across primary care – pharmacy, general practice, dentistry – the pressures stand apart from the rest of Warwickshire and they are particularly difficult.

“You need to place the communications you have about St Cross and its development in that context, and to bring with you the people who work in those sectors as allies because they could be helpful in dealing with a lot of this.”

Promise to Rugby patients

Cllr Timms was reassured by the confirmation that no beds would be lost for Rugby patients, something Ms Richards was keen to reiterate.

“That has been a message we have been trying to get out from the get-go,” she said.

“It is in our public statement, it is on our website, it is everywhere and we are not moving away from that – Rugby patients will still be able to access the same services at St Cross as they do now. That will not change.

“It is fraught, it always is. We recognise the challenges and that you are here to represent the people of Rugby. We are here to listen and we want to work together. We have said that from the get-go and we will continue to do that.”

Prof Hardy then said: “I apologise for expressing my frustrations in the way that I did.

“Those frustrations come out of the passion we have for St Cross. Both Chris (Bain) and Councillor (John) Holland have mentioned that as public servants and elected members, we should work together.

"There has been miscommunication on a number of parts that has led to marching on the streets.”

He concluded that part by saying the overall plans were “really good news for St Cross”.