New hospital, new healthcare forLudlow and South West Shropshire“We should really celebrate what is being presented today. The Ludlow Health

Facility, when completed, will be a beacon for what can be achieved in a rural

area.” Dr Graham Cook, Station Drive Surgery

Shropshire Council has also agreedto the sale of land at the Eco Park tothe PCT – which means that land hasnow been secured for the project.

As we move forward, there continuesto be some significant milestonesthat need to be met to make surethat the plans develop and progressat the speed that they need to. Abrief overview of these milestones isshown in the table to the left.

www.shropshire.nhs.uk

This is the newsletter of the LudlowHealth Facility Forum, which has beenprepared by Shropshire CountyPrimary Care Trust for circulation tolocal residents and community groups.

A special meeting of the LudlowHealth Forum took place at the end ofNovember, in which Forum membersand for the first time, members ofthe public were invited to come andfind out about progress that has beenmade to bring to life the redevelopmentplans for south west Shropshire –including a new hospital and twonew GP surgeries.

Chaired by Philip Dunne MP, theforum meeting went through someof the more important steps that thePCT and its partners have takenrecently in getting the redevelopmentplans off the ground. This includedoutlining the key milestones in thecoming months and years; an updateon the purchase of land at the EcoBusiness Park in Ludlow; clarityaround the issue of parking at thenew facility; an update on thefinancing of the project as well as abrief overview of how the plans for anew hospital currently fit in with therestructuring that is taking placewithin the NHS as a whole.

Information sheet: January 2011

Outline Planning Application made for the project – January 2011

Shortlist of potential development partners made – January 2011

Announcement of chosen development partner – Autumn 2011

Start on-site – Summer 2012*

Opening of facility – 2014*

*These dates will be confirmed once a chosen development partner is agreed.

What and when?Since the last Forum meeting, a lotof work has taken place to move theproject on. This includes getting theoutline business case approved bythe West Midlands Strategic HealthAuthority (SHA), and getting agreementfrom the SHA to move to a 3rd-partydeveloper programme. This is wherea third party develops and builds thenew facility and then leases it backto the NHS for an agreed term.

PCT Ludlow December newsletter 4pg 21/12/10 4:17 pm Page 1

www.shropshire.nhs.uk

Some of yourquestionsanswered…At the latest Ludlow Health Forum a

number of questions were raised.

Below are a selection of these

questions and their answers:

Q: How has the ‘brief’ changed

from this time last year?

Another year of activity has meant

that the PCT has been able to get

another year of activity information.

This is vital to continually feed the

plans and make sure that it reflects –

as accurately as possible – what the

new health facility should include.

In essence, the ‘brief’ now makes the

case for a different number of beds

to be included in the hospital. This

includes 36 inpatient beds, 4

maternity-specific beds as well as beds

dedicated to day surgery procedures.

Q: What isn’t included in the new

brief that was originally included?

Nothing. Everything that was previously

included in the brief, remains in the

brief. We have increased the bed

number back to 36 inpatient beds

and 4 maternity-specific beds.

Q: What about financing the project

– does the £2million pledged by the

Strategic Health Authority still exist?

The money provided by the Strategic

Health Authority has been used to

progress the project to the point it is

at now, including allowing the PCT to

Choosing a development partner...Choosing a development partner is an important part of the

programme of work. It means that there is a formal process which

the PCT has to go through in order to make sure that the

organisation that builds the new facility meets the requirements of

the project. At the Forum, the team outlined the brief process that

needs to be followed in order for the final partner to be chosen.

Stage 1:In the initial stage the PCT issued a notice to the Official Journal of

the European Union, in which the procurement project was issued.

Any business that was interested in working on the project needed

to make themselves ‘known’ to the PCT and to fill out a

pre-qualification questionnaire.

Stage 2:After receiving all of the pre-qualification questionnaires, the PCT

will then be in a position to decide which companies best meet the

requirements of the project and agree to some of them (probably

between five and eight different companies) going through to the

next stage. Those companies will be asked to provide further

information, and no more than three of them will be selected to

be part of the Framework Agreement, from which the final selection

of partner will take place.

Stage 3:At the end of stage 2, the PCT will seek detailed proposals from

the Framework Partners, and then be in a position to decide which

company is best placed to become its development partner for the

Ludlow project. It will then work with this organisation to finalise

the plans for the new development and to begin detailed planning

for the building stage.

PCT Ludlow December newsletter 4pg 21/12/10 4:17 pm Page 2

www.shropshire.nhs.uk

secure the land at the Eco Business

Park. The chosen third-party developer

will finance the construction of the

development and will then lease it

back to the NHS.

Q: What happens at the end of the

lease of the building, does it revert

back to ownership of the NHS?

At the end of the lease period,

decisions will need to be made as to

what happens to the building. There

could, for example, be an extension

to the lease period; the building

could be handed over to the NHS or

the NHS could decide that the building

no longer meets its requirements.

Q: What are the arrangements for

the car parking at the new facility?

Will patients and visitors have to

pay for parking?

Staff currently working at Ludlow

Hospital have taken part in a travel

survey, which has helped underpin

the traffic plan. Currently the plans

are to have about 130 parking spaces,

which is about the same as what is

offered by the Tesco site in Ludlow

town centre. There are no plans to

charge for parking, though it is likely

to be controlled parking of some

kind to make sure parking is for

visitors and patients to the facility only.

Q: Are there any plans for dental

facilities in the new facility?

There are currently no plans for dental

facilities in the new development.

Q: Will the 3rd party developer be

limited to simply developing the

site, or will they have a say of

what goes in it too?

This still needs to be finalised. The

chosen third party developer will be

expected to provide the equipment

for the hospital that is physically

attached to the building; it is expected

that they would also be responsible

for maintenance of the building, but

not for NHS services.

Q: What will happen to the

current hospital site?

The current hospital will continue until

the new facility is up and running.

After which discussions will need to

take place with local planners with a

view to selling the land.

The Outline PlansLocal people from Ludlow, Craven

Arms and surrounding areas in south

west Shropshire were invited to come

and have their say on the outline plans

for a new health facility to be built

on the Eco Park in Ludlow.

The plans, which include a new

hospital and two new GP surgeries,

are due to be submitted for outline

planning permission in the coming

months, and before this happens

local people were given the opportunity

to see the plans, to ask any questions

they have about them and also to tell

Shropshire County PCT what is both

positive about them as well as raising

any concerns they may have.

PCT Ludlow December newsletter 4pg 21/12/10 4:17 pm Page 3

CONTACT US: Shropshire County PCT, 01743 277500, www.shropshire.nhs.uk

If you can read this report but know someone who can’t, please contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). They can arrange forthe report to be reproduced in a more suitable format or, if needed, in a different language. You can contact PALS by calling 0800 032 1107.

“I applaud you all for beingengaged and supporting localhealth services. Whilst there is alot of work to still take place, weall should all feel extremely positiveand proud about this.

“There is a lot of change in theNHS at the moment, a lot of changeahead of us in Shropshire as I amsure you are aware, but thischange gives us a real opportunity.

“The Strategic Health Authoritywill be abolished in about 12months time, but they have provided us with the promised £2mfor Ludlow and they have beenand continue to be supportive ofthe work that we are all doing here.

“Another change is with regardsto running NHS community healthservices in the future. As part ofthe changes in the NHS, primarycare trusts in their current formwill be abolished from about 2013.The commissioning (or buying) ofhealth services on behalf of localpeople will then become theresponsibility of local GP consortia,and running NHS communityhealth services needed to be delivered by a different organisation.

“We felt strongly that the bestway to protect and preserveShropshire’s community health

services was through a separatecommunity organisation. Onethat remained part of the NHS,one that could demonstrate valuefor money, one that could offergood quality services whilst at thesame time be aware of keepingmanagement costs down.

“As such, Shropshire County PCTand NHS Telford and Wrekin areworking to join together theircommunity services into one neworganisation. The benefit of doingthis is that it will be a largerorganisation which is much moreresilient to future changes anddevelopments and will also beable to better reduce costs throughefficiency gains.

“This new organisation will continue to provide all of theservices that we currently providetoday, and what we are talkingabout in relation to the LudlowHealth facility. They will be thesame local people delivering thesame local services. This is vital ifwe consider that about 90% ofall NHS health services are provided

in local communities, outside ofthe traditional acute hospital environment.

“Work continues to take place at afast pace and we are very optimisticabout the future and hopefully thenew organisation will be able toown the community hospitals aspart of national negotiations.

“Once again, this is a great successfor Ludlow and the people insouth west Shropshire and weshould all be very proud of whatwe have, together, achieved.”

The future of community NHS services and Ludlow Hospital – an updateto the Ludlow Forum by Jo Chambers, Chief Executive of ShropshireCounty PCT.

PCT Ludlow December newsletter 4pg 21/12/10 4:18 pm Page 4