On the outskirts of Bristol, far from the madding crowds, nestled in suburban Emerson’s Green, sits an enigmatic white elephant - welcome to Emersons Green ‘NHS’ Treatment Centre.
This brand new, state-of-the-art surgical inpatient facility opened in November 2009. Since then, the skilled and competent (as far as I know), largely Hungarian consultant staff have been doing… well basically… a lot of thumb twiddling.
We have become victims of what Hamish Meldrum described last month as:
“Incoherent and divisive market-based policies that pit trusts against each other, secondary care against primary care, increase costs and, in many cases, duplicate existing services. Lucrative contracts for ISTCs that are paid for up-front yet don’t deliver on activity - often because there was no need for them in the first place…”
This has been exactly the case in Bristol, but not for much longer…
Good, you might think – common sense must have prevailed - the unnecessary centre is going to be closed down, allowing patients to return to their local hospitals? Alas no…
Bristol PCT, tasked with finding an unlikely £30 million worth of savings, this year, have given up trying to encourage / cajole GPs into referring to the, already paid for, Emerson’s Green ISTC. Instead, with effect from June 1st 2010 doctors will only be able to refer patients to their preferred local hospitals if they meet the limited ‘exclusion criteria’ for a procedure at the ISTC. The local hospitals are effectively off limits – out of bounds - closed for business.
So that’s what’s meant by patient choice!
Laughably, on the shiny website home page of the private company that runs Emerson’s Green – UKSH - it proudly proclaims:
“We aim to offer NHS patients more choice about where and when they can be treated.”
‘Goulash’ originates from the Hungarian word for a cattle stockman – cowboys or herdsman. In Slovakia goulash is also popular and the word means mishmash. Together these definitions provide a good description of the current sorry state of affairs in NHS commissioning, as the PCT cowboys herd patients out of town.
When will a halt be called to this ludicrous mishmash in commissioning of services? Are Lansley’s plans for GP Lone Ranger sheriffs the answer?