Trust to ‘temporarily’ downgrade A&E amid concerns of permanent move

Cheltenham General Hospital’s accident and emergency department will become a minor injuries and illness unit, operating 8am to 8pm, for three months from next week.

Gloucestershire Hospitals Foundation Trust made the decision on 2 June to send emergency admissions eight miles away to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital under plans it says are aimed at “minimising the risk of transmission of the virus to patients and staff, whilst remaining prepared for a second surge, should it happen”.

The move comes after years of concerns from campaigners that the trust had planned to close Cheltenham’s A&E department.

In 2013, the trust decided to downgrade Cheltenham’s A&E unit between 8pm and 8am to a ‘nurse-led’ minor injuries service. A full A&E service between 8am and 8pm has remained since then, but fears have persisted from campaign groups and the town’s MP that the unit may be downgraded further.

At the time, the trust said it was downgrading Cheltenham A&E because it could not guarantee adequate staffing numbers to run a safe service. It has previously denied any plans to close the department permanently.

Last year campaign group Restore Emergency at Cheltenham General (REACH) threatened to take the trust to the high court over what they said was a lack of consultation over plans to move emergency general surgery from Cheltenham General to GRH. This plan was then withdrawn.

Chris Hickey, spokesman for REACH, said: “This looks so suspiciously like what we have fought against for six years, in the last two years in particular. Everything they are planning to do are the things we said should be subject to a full consultation.

“We have been asked to trust [Gloucestershire Hospitals FT], but it’s a very difficult ask given their behaviour in the past.”

Health secretary Matt Hancock said in the House of Commons in October that there were “no proposals” to close Cheltenham A&E.

Trust board papers said the downgrade would “limit the risk of transmission of the virus to patients and staff during the next phase of the pandemic,” and increase volume of services such as cancer surgery, electives and specialist diagnostics.

Professor Mark Pietroni, director of safety and medical director, said: “The layout of Gloucestershire Royal Emergency Department and its critical care unit means it is considerably easier to separate confirmed non-COVID patients from confirmed and suspected COVID patients.

“These changes allow us to establish a non-covid critical care department and specialist imaging department at Cheltenham General Hospital, thus enabling us to retain complex cancer surgery locally whilst enabling elderly and shielded patients to access diagnostic care, with minimal risk.”