We’re still here and fighting for BHU Patients!

Despite the fantastic support for the Keep BHU Open campaign, Surrey County Council and NHS England, the commissioners of the integrated sexual health & HIV services contract for Surrey, transferred the BHU service to CNWL on 1 October 2017 knowing that this would result in the closure of the specialist Unit that had served the people of North West Surrey with such distinction for 25 years. In our last petition update on 2 October 2017 we noted that the results of the commissioners’ belated online patient survey, which closed on 22 September 2017, were awaited – they are still awaited! We reported that the Surrey County Council Adults & Health & Select Committee, to whom we and Healthwatch Surrey had made representations at their meeting on 14 September 2017, had not supported our request for the BHU contract to be extended for a further six months as it was evident that adequate arrangements were not in place for the service transfer. The Councillors did agree to set up a task group to explore the adequacy of the consultation and implementation arrangements – however we are still waiting to hear how the task group will operate and when we will have the opportunity to present evidence to the task group on the failure to consult in any meaningful, formative way with BHU patients. Apparently, approval is required from the Surrey County Council Overview and Budget Scrutiny Committee before the task group can be set up. We have yet to hear whether that approval has been given. It’s a sadly familiar pattern of not listening to patients and stakeholders directly affected by a decision taken without any regard for the impact on those who relied on the Blanche Heriot Unit. BHU Patient Working Group Fortunately we have a forum through which we are able to represent the interests of BHU patients and stakeholders. The BHU Patients Working Group was set up by the commissioners, at the instigation of the Keep BHU Open campaign, to involve patients and stakeholders in overseeing the implementation and onward provision of the sexual health and HIV services contract following the closure of BHU. The Group has an independent Chair, Professor Mark Britton, who is a retired Chest Physician and former Medical Director of Ashford & St Peter’s Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (ASPH). It is attended by senior officers from Surrey County Council (Public Health) and NHS England. It has representatives from CNWL and ASPH. There are five patient representatives. Stephen Fash attends as a Patient Advocate, Nygel Glynn attends to represent North West Surrey GPs, Cliff Bush attends from the Surrey Coalition for the Disabled, Danny Sparkes attends as an ASPH Governor and Chair of their Patient Panel and Kate Scribbens (or Liz Sawyer) attends for Healthwatch Surrey. The Group meets fortnightly and has met four times so far. The Group has identified a range of concerns including inadequate communication about the provision of services following the closure of BHU (this is a particular concern with regard to schools and young people given the reduction in sexual health clinics); difficulties in getting through the CNWL online and telephone appointment booking systems; waiting times for appointments; availability of patient transport or assistance with travel costs for patients required to go from North West Surrey to Guildford or Woking; shortcomings in disability access at Buryfields Clinic (in response to which CNWL have commissioned a disability access survey of its three “hub” premises at Buryfields, Woking Community Hospital and Earnsdale Clinic, Redhill). Where patients have provided us with feedback from using the CNWL service we have reported the matters raised to the Group, highlighting areas for improvement. What is very clear is that the service is less accessible, due to the closure of BHU and local clinics across Surrey, and narrower in scope – an example of this is that smear tests and flu jabs, which were provided by the BHU as part of their holistic service, are not allowed for by the new contract. We are also receiving activity and performance data which we shall monitor closely in the months to come. We will continue to provide updates on issues considered and, hopefully, resolved through the BHU Patients Working Group and welcome any comments that patients, GPs or other health care professionals have on the CNWL service that can inform the Working Group’s agenda – please contact us at bhupatients@gmail.com Transition Clinic moves to Blanche Heriot Unit The Transition Clinic is a weekly clinic held on Friday afternoons to assess the continuing care needs of BHU patients living with HIV. It was set up in October following the closure of BHU and originally held in the depths of the main Outpatients Department at St Peter’s Hospital requiring patients to negotiate a lift or escalator, and then a long corridor walk, to get to Area 5 of the OPD. The patient representatives on the BHU Working Group, were unhappy about this and we are delighted that, since Friday 24 November, patients are now able to be seen again in the familiar, and far more discrete, surroundings of the BHU. The CNWL number to call to make appointments is 020 3317 5252 but patients may find it easier to call Shirley on 01483 846304. We would encourage all BHU patients living with HIV who have not yet arranged an appointment at the Transition Clinic to do so as this will assist the future planning of service for this group of patients. The Keep BHU Open campaign has always taken the view that provision of services for patients living with HIV who cannot reasonably be expected to travel to Buryfields Clinic, Guildford, should continue to be made at St Peter’s Hospital, ideally at the Blanche Heriot Unit. Petition continues to grow In the meantime the petition remains open and our campaign now is for the Blanche Heriot Unit to be reopened as a sexual health, GUM and HIV Clinic serving North West Surrey. We are getting closer to the 3,000 signatures figure. The campaign continues as the shortcomings in the CNWL service model are already very evident. These were predictable given CNWL’s lack of knowledge of the geography of Surrey and its poor public transport links, compounded by trying to meet a service specification on a budget cut by one third which the local NHS providers, ASPH and Frimley Park, had judged to be non-viable. We consider it essential for the commissioners to make contingency plans for sexual health and HIV services to be reinstated at BHU in the event that the CNWL contract fails.