30 Mar 2020
A number of community services in St Helens will transition to new providers on 1 April 2020 as part of a local approach to health and care services delivered in the community as part of the St Helens Cares partnership.
On 1 April 2020, St Helens residents will benefit from a local approach to health and care services delivered in the community including Community Paediatrics, Paediatric Continence and Community Children’s Nursing.
For a number of years, these community services in St Helens have been delivered by Bridgewater Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and local residents have received great care. However, to make services better and more efficient for patients, all local NHS organisations, St Helens Council and other voluntary sector partners including Torus Housing, agreed to work together in partnership as St Helens Cares with the goal of bringing services together and making it easier for residents to get the best quality care they need in the most appropriate place.
Bringing the running of these community services back to a local provider is a key objective of the St Helens Cares partnership. This process commenced on 1st December 2019 with the transfer of the responsibility for running a number of services to St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, the lead provider in the St Helens Cares partnership, (Urgent Treatment Centre and Community IV Therapy) and North West Boroughs Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust (Looked After Children).
This transition will conclude with the second phase of community services outlined below transferring on 1st April 2020.
Members of staff who currently work for Bridgewater have been part of a consultation process and have been fully engaged with throughout. Patients have been made aware of the change in provider where necessary. With the exception of Community Specialist Rehabilitation which will move to Garswood Health Centre, the locations of services/teams and the members of staff delivering them remains the same
Working on a place-based approach means we can knit hospital and community services together, making it easier to support more people in the community and keep them out of hospital. It will also help us to move some services out of hospital
Services transferring from Bridgewater to St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust (unless otherwise noted are):
1st April 2020
Paediatric Speech and Language Therapy (North West Boroughs)
Community Paediatrics
Paediatric Continence
Community Children’s Nursing
GPs with special interest in Ear Nose and Throat
GPs with special interest in ENT sessions from Fairfield Hospital
GPs with special interest in Dermatology
GP Gynaecology service
Newton Hospital Outpatient service
Community Specialist Rehabilitation (The Walton Centre) – also moving location to Garswood Health Centre
Homeless Health (North West Boroughs)