A GROUP of ten of Worcestershire’s most senior clinicians have reaffirmed their commitment to improving hospital services in the county following the release of a long-awaited report.

Yesterday an independent report by the West Midlands Clinical Senate into the long-running project reorganising services at Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Kidderminster Hospital and Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital was released after months of delay.

Although the organisation – a board of medical experts from all elements of the healthcare sector – supported various elements of the project, it also said more work needed to be done on how emergency services are run in the county.

Following the report ten of the most senior figures in the county’s healthcare sector, including divisional medical directors at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust Graham James, Dr Tony Scriven, Dr Andrew Short, Dr Julien Berlet, Dr Chris Catchpole as well as chairman of the organisation’s Medical Staff Committee Martin Wadley, released an open letter today reaffirming their “total commitment” to the project.

In the letter, which was also signed by chairman of NHS South Worcestershire Clinical Commissioning Group Dr Anthony Kelly, along with colleagues Dr George Henry and Mari Gay and his counterpart in the Wyre Forest Dr Simon Rumley, the clinicians said they recognised more work needed to be done on the project.

“Patient safety is at the very heart of everything we do,” they said. “The models of care have been developed by Worcestershire’s doctors, surgeons, GPs and clinicians from a wide range of disciplines, including GPs from all three CCGs in the county.

“The reconfiguration plans are designed to provide safe and sustainable services for the whole of Worcestershire’s population in coming years. We have good facilities in the county of Worcestershire, staffed by a dedicated, skilled workforce.

“The intention is to make the most efficient use of those facilities and staff by streamlining the types of work delivered on each site.”

The letter continued the clinicians recognised and shared concerns around the ability of the hospitals to cope with the changes but said there were no plans to put any new ways of working in place until facilities were in place to deliver them.

“Developing the physical capacity and workforce is the next stage of the reconfiguration process,” they said.

“It is a reality that any financial support to develop additional capacity will only come once plans to reconfigure services have been agreed.

“We are frustrated that the initial stages of the reconfiguration planning have taken so long as it has meant we have been unable to begin to address the capacity constraints that we know exist at present.”

The letter concluded it was believed the project would ultimately improve hospital services across the entire county.

“We want to reassure the public that although current services are fragile they are safe today,” they said. “The only way to maintain their safety is to move forward to public consultation without further unnecessary delay.”

The project, which has been in progress since 2012 and was originally slated to be complete by the end of last year, includes plans to centralise maternity, gynaecology and emergency surgery services at the Royal.

View the full report here.