THE Inwood Ward at Alton Community Hospital reopened last Friday amid great jubilation and a real sense of proprietorial pride. It has been heralded as a victory for people power, reflecting a determination by local people to retain a service that is highly valued and too good to lose. The result is a £130,000 refurbishment to produce a radical model of care that can be replicated in community hospitals across the country - a model driven and shaped, to a large degree, by local people. From this week, 12 beds in the former 24-bed GP ward have come back on line, some 16 months after its unexpected "temporary" closure on June 30 last year. The closure was blamed on dangerously low staffing levels and the use of expensive agency staff, which was felt to compromise continuity of care. On Friday, the ward reopened with a full complement of staff to man 12 beds, which will be used to help people regain their independence as quickly as possible following treatment in acute units such as North Hampshire Hospital at Basingstoke. The focus is on rehabilitation in line with a national drive to treat people closer to their own homes, in a more conducive environment, releasing beds in the more expensive acute units. The aim is to speed up the system, to provide a better service for patients, giving better value for money. The first patient to test the services of the bright new Inwood facility was 79-year- old Louis who was full of admiration for the staff and her surroundings. Proclaiming stoutly that "they treat you like royalty here", Louis performed the honours by cutting the cake, assisted by ward sister Melanie Bessant and former director of corporate affairs at North Hampshire Primary Care Trust, Richard Samuel (now managing director for the NHS in North Hampshire). In expressing his delight at having overseen not only the temporary closure, but also the reopening of Inwood Ward, Mr Samuel recognised "the huge amount of effort" that had gone into the project by a large number of people. In particular, he mentioned the existing staff at Alton Community Hospital, who had endured months of upheaval, and four key players: the head of the community hospital, Gill Donnachie, consultant manager for older people Jacqueline Metcalfe, director of community and primary care services Helen Clanchy, and matron Sarah Garland. Thanks went also to Godalming-based contractors MG Joseph and to the organiser and co-ordinator of the building work, Peter Histon. "This is a fabulous facility for the people of Alton and for the future," he said. In adding her own thanks to those of Mr Samuel, Sarah Garland explained how the determination and "steadfast input" of the locally formed stakeholder-turned implementation group, led by last year's town mayor, Paddy Mendham, had acted as the driving force behind the building of a new model of care for Inwood. More than satisfied with the result, Mr Mendham said he had been impressed by the fact that, having made the decision in January to back the recommendations put forward by the implementation group, the PCT had seen the project through. "They have done what they said they'd do," he said. The pressure was now on to reopen the remaining 12 beds, but that, he added, would be based on "clinical need". In a statement this week, Hampshire PCT has confirmed that it "remains committed to Alton Community Hospital as part of a local system that delivers care as close to home as possible". The emphasis at the hospital will be on helping people to manage their own health, providing primary and community care services in surgeries, clinics and people's own homes, community hospital services, and general and specialist hospital services for more severe or complex problems. In future, according to the Hampshire PCT communications manager Peter Campion, changes in the NHS will mean that many decisions about local services, including those provided at Alton Community Hospital, will be taken by groups of GPs operating under a new practice-based commissioning service. In addition, the probable introduction in Hampshire next April of the new "payment by result" scheme, where the money follows the patient, should smooth the passage for moving patients from one area of care to another. According to Jacqueline Metcalfe, in designing a clinical service to meet modern needs it had been necessary to look for pathways for patients from the North Hampshire Hospital to Alton Community Hospital. Following the reopening of the Inwood Ward, the next phase would be look at non-bed based services, she said.
