Media release issued by Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board.
To maintain a safe and sustainable service for the patients of South Cumbria, an independent review has recommended that the temporary suspension of a Level 3 intensive care unit be made permanent.
Level 3 services at Furness General Hospital (FGH) were temporarily suspended last September due to issues with recruiting qualified and experienced staff, with only three permanent consultants in post against a national guidance requirement of eight.
Whilst the temporary change has been in place, patients who require Level 3 critical care are transferred to Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI), once stabilised. Patients who require Levels 1 and 2 critical care continue to be treated and cared for at the hospital in Barrow-in-Furness.
Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), the commissioners of the service, asked the Clinical Senate to carry out an independent review to advise on the safety and sustainability of the service going forward - taking into account the recruitment efforts since the temporary change was made. Experts within the Lancashire and South Cumbria Critical Care Network were also asked to ensure the work done to date meets the national safety standards required.
Following the publication of this review, the ICB has decided that the preferred option is to make this temporary suspension permanent to maintain a safe and sustainable service for the patients of South Cumbria.
Professor Andy Knox, medical director at NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board, said: “When considering how we provide the very best services for patients, we want to ensure that they are clinically safe and provide the highest quality of care, in line with national guidance. This is especially important when it comes to intensive care.
“The report from the independent review has found that the previous provision could not meet the necessary standards and was therefore not safe. Due to this, the Clinical Senate are supportive of the Intensive Care Unit at FGH continuing to provide Level 1 and 2 care on site with a treat and transfer service to either RLI or another appropriate provider. As a result, we intend to make the temporary suspension of Level 3 intensive care at FGH permanent, but not before we engage with the local community, patients and staff.
“We have worked in collaboration with the team at UHMBT (University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust) and the difficult decision to originally suspend the service last year was made to protect the safety of patients and staff. Medical staffing within the unit at FGH has been a concern for several years, with consultant cover not meeting national guidance despite significant efforts from the Trust.
“Our priority is to ensure the future delivery of a safe and sustainable critical care service at FGH to provide the best possible service to our local population, and we will keep everyone updated on next steps.”
Since the suspension of Level 3 at FGH, there have been 30 patients over a six-month period who have been transferred to a different provider, 10 of whom would have been transferred even if there had been a Level 3 unit at FGH due to their clinical needs, and there have been no adverse outcomes.
Dr Caroline Brock, interim chief medical officer, UHMBT, said: “We have a responsibility to ensure that all the services we offer to our local communities are safe and do not put patients or colleagues at unnecessary risk. Unfortunately, despite huge efforts to recruit and retain suitable qualified and experienced medical colleagues over a number of years, we are still unable to provide a safe and sustainable Level 3 intensive care service at FGH.
“We understand the impact that this will have on our colleagues and local community and that there may be concerns about what this means for FGH. I want to be clear that we remain absolutely committed to FGH and its future as a district general hospital in Barrow. We are about to open a brand new £5.8m Community Diagnostic Centre at the hospital and are hoping to receive up to £57m of national funding to expand emergency and family services on site as part of the Barrow Rising initiative.
“If the decision is made to make the changes permanent, we will work with our teams to develop a safe and effective treat and transfer model - using evidence-based learning from other trusts across the country who run similar services in geographically isolated areas like Barrow.
“We will continue to work with the ICB and support colleagues, patients and families throughout.”
Further details about the next steps will be shared as soon as possible.