Commissioners Representatives meet Blanche Heriot Patients

Upwards of 80 patients of the Blanche Heriot Unit attended a meeting with representatives of the service commissioners on Saturday 13 May. Those attending from the commissioners were Lisa Andrews, Senior Public Health Lead, Surrey County Council; Steve Emerton, Programme Director Specialised Commissioning, NHS England South East and Fiona MacKison, Service Specialist, Specialised Commissioning, NHS England South. The views of the patients were made very clear to the representatives with everyone who spoke describing how much they owe to the Blanche Heriot Unit from original diagnosis to managing their condition on an ongoing basis. They spoke about the specialist knowledge and understanding that Dr Pritchard and her colleagues have of their conditions and the vital links between the Blanche Heriot Unit and other departments at St Peter’s Hospital such as Maternity, A&E, ITU, Medical Unit, Dermatology and Pathology. A number of speakers told of how they owed their life to the Blanche Heriot Unit, for example in identifying cancer. All were distraught about its possible closure describing the Blanche Heriot Unit as “irreplaceable” and a “centre of excellence”. The representatives were unable to give any details about how the services would be reprovided or where they would be located. There are still no detailed proposals from Central & North West London NHS Trust (CNWL). However many of the patients made it clear that they would find it extremely difficult, time-consuming and costly to travel to Guildford or Redhill for urgent or review appointments. (It was acknowledged that the service could not be moved to Woking Community Hospital as there is simply not the space there, but the same point applies to the premises that CNWL are using in Guildford and Redhill). The representatives said, in effect, that their hands were tied by the amount of money they had to spend on the contract which, we know, was cut by over 30% (£2m) by Surrey County Council as part of the tender process. It was put to them that this was the reason that the existing providers – in particular Ashford & St Peters NHS Foundation Trust - didn’t bid as they knew they would not be able to deliver an acceptable service with such a cut in budget and that, as there had only been one bidder, the tender process should have been halted and the contract terms reviewed. The issue of transfer of patient records and data protection was raised – the Blanche Heriot Unit has a bespoke IT system and concern was expressed about the process of transferring highly sensitive and confidential personal data to another system. More information was requested on the costing of the contract and evaluation of the CNWL bid and how costs were to be monitored as the CNWL service model took effect. It was also put to the commissioners that the services provided at the Blanche Heriot Unit cannot be substantially changed, in terms of location and range of provision, without formal public consultation. There was very little that Lisa, Steve and Fiona could say to reassure those present but they did listen to the concerns and issues raised, promising to report these back to their seniors and to meet the patient group again. This was a great mobilisation of patient opinion with many relevant points and challenges raised. We hope to build on this as the campaign to Keep the Blanche Heriot Unit Open at St Peter’s gathers pace. We are keen to collate everyone’s stories/case studies to present to the commissioners - please drop us an email to bhupatients@gmail.com letting us know how long you have been a patient under BHU, your health conditions, your experience at BHU and other NHS services, the impact of BHU closing for you, a bit about yourself and your daily life with your health etc. Please indicate if you consent to sharing your personal details including any, or all, of name, age, health condition, location, profession, photo or wish to remain anonymous. We would like to use these case studies in a report we plan to present to the commissioners/Surrey County Council. If anyone is also happy to be featured in any media or other communications, please also let us know. Email Us: bhupatients@gmail.com