News Hospital site in cash bid for re-vamp
Health chiefs now have the go-ahead to submit a bid for a share of £750 million - part of which would be used to refurbish Goole Hospital.
At a meeting last Wednesday, the East Riding of Yorkshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) board agreed to support bids to the Department of Health for money which has been set aside to improve facilities.
A spokesperson for the PCT said a number of units at Goole Hospital would be refurbished if the bid was successful but could not give any more details.
The bids will be submitted by Monday, July 9 and the trust should know the outcome by the end of this year.
At the same meeting, the board approved plans to invest £8.9 million in health services, including commissioning 15 NHS-provided beds at Goole Hospital.
Neighbourhood Health Teams, with around 120 new staff, will also be introduced to provide round-the-clock care and 15 extra beds will be commissioned from the East Riding's private care-home sector.
Elsewhere in the East Riding, bids will be submitted to provide a £20 million facility in Beverley, rebuild Hornsea Cottage Hospital and refurbish the Alfred Bean Hospital at Driffield.
Claire Wood, interim chief executive at the PCT, said the decision would mean "real changes" to the way NHS services were delivered.
"The current way of delivering healthcare is not sustainable in the long term and change is needed," she said.
Chairman of the PCT board Karen Knapton said: "More money and staff will be community-focused in the future, with less money being spent on services commissioned from larger hospitals outside the East Riding of Yorkshire.
"We are confident that the decision made offers real value to money to our residents."
Ian Cawsey, MP for Brigg and Goole, said: "I am pleased that the PCT board has now formally approved the plans to bring in new community beds to Goole Hospital.
"These are beds that offer care and support to people who may be too ill to be at home but not so ill they need to be on an acute ward.
"We have probably all had a family member or friend who would have benefited from such a provision and the fact that Goole Hospital will provide such a service will be welcomed across the community."
More detailed plans and timescales will be presented to a PCT board meeting later this year. It is expected that the changes will be implemented from April, 2008.
Published on 5th July 2007 in News.
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