Improving Hinckley Community Health Services
This engagement is now closed.
Click here to read the Engagement Report.
Click here to read that latest project updates.
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The NHS in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland asked to hear from local people in Hinckley and Bosworth, and anyone else with an interest, about proposals to build a new Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC) in Hinckley.
We want to bring local people the best in modern and fit for purpose facilities for health checks, scans and tests, so that they can be diagnosed closer to home, without having to travel to a large hospital elsewhere.
Thank you to everybody who completed an engagement questionnaire. Your feedback will help us to understand what the proposed changes would mean for you and your family and help us to make a final decision.
About the engagement
The engagement was led by NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board (ICB). The ICB is the organisation responsible for buying (commissioning) and making decisions about healthcare services in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland on your behalf.
From the onset, we involved and worked with our patients, service users, carers, staff and stakeholders. We have been having conversations with these groups since 2014, listening to them and taking on their feedback to shape our proposals.
The engagement and its proposals reflected what people told us they want and need. It provided an opportunity to have a final say on the proposals so that the people of Hinckley and Bosworth can have modern, first-class facilities closer to home. Details of the engagement can be found in the full engagement document.
Why are we proposing changes?
It has long been recognised that conditions at the current hospital, built in 1899, do not meet modern requirements or the needs of local people and an ageing population.
Half of the current Hinckley and District Hospital remains closed and cannot be transformed into clinical space. There are challenges for both patients and staff at the current site which can’t be rectified or improved without replacing the current outdated building with new facilities.
Click on the videos below for a tour of the current facilities and to learn why they are not suitable:
What changes are we proposing?
The engagement sought your views on proposals to change some community health services for the local population in Hinckley and Bosworth. The proposals aim to expand services available in the Hinckley and Bosworth community.
We would like to make changes to the Hinckley & District Hospital on Mount Road (above)
We want to:
- The CDC would provide MRI and CT scanners, a plain film X-ray machine and ultrasound. These are all tools that allow doctors to see inside the body. It would also have phlebotomy rooms (phlebotomy is a surgical opening to withdraw blood), rooms where procedures are undertaken and two endoscopy rooms (endoscopy is when a long, thin tube goes directly into the body to observe an internal organ or tissue in detail), all with supporting accommodation.
- Create a Day Case Unit that provides the services that are currently on the site of Hinckley and District Hospital (Mount Road) plus additional procedures. Day case means you are admitted to hospital for a planned surgical procedure, returning home on the same day. Speciality services that would be delivered include General Surgery, Gynaecology, Ophthalmology, Orthopaedic Surgery, Pain Management, Plastic Surgery, Podiatric Surgery, Urology, Vascular Surgery.
There are a number of different options being considered in regard to how we develop a Day Case Unit and we want to hear your views.
The options are:
- Remodel the existing Hinckley and District Hospital to provide appropriate accommodation for the day case service in part of the building.
- Build a standalone Day Case Unit on the existing Hinckley and District Hospital site
- Co-locate (bring together) a Day Case Unit with the CDC on the Hinckley and District Hospital site.
- Move the Adults Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy and Children’s Therapy facilities from a portacabin on the Mount Road site into refurbished space within the Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council’s Hinckley Hub on Rugby Road, Hinckley. While the new home for this service is made ready, it would be necessary to find a temporary home for them. (Physiotherapy helps to restore movement.)
- Undertake some renovation of Hinckley Health Centre including improving paint work.
- Ensure that we can fund community services in Hinckley for a long period of time.We do have one option that we prefer more than the others for creating a Day Case Unit. That is to co-locate a Day Case Unit with the CDC. This option, whilst logistically difficult, would ensure more services in modern, fit for purpose buildings that would meet the needs of a growing and ageing population. But we want to hear what you think.
Depending on the outcome of this engagement, either the entire Hinckley and District Hospital or an element of it may be demolished. The site left after demolishment would be used to provide additional car parking for both the CDC and Day Case Unit.
We have listened to what people have told us about their experiences of services and what matters to them. The feedback has helped us to develop these proposals.
How are the improvements being funded?
We have attracted national money to fund these proposals. We were successful in gaining government investment to build a new CDC. We are just one of 40 health systems in England to do this. The total capital cost (this is the term given to one-time expenses which could be for buying land, buildings or, as in our case constructing a building) we have attracted specifically for a CDC in Hinckley is approximately £14.5 million.
This money is in addition to £7.35 million of funding that was allocated to us by NHS England in 2018, which will specifically fund the Day Case Service.
* Please note that since the consultation closed the funding is now £24.6m for the CDC and £10m for the Day Case Unit.
How to get in touch
The engagement ran from Monday 23 January 2023 until Wednesday 8 March 2023. People were given the opportunity to have their say by telling us what they thought of the proposals to improve local services.
- We held public face-to-face and online events
- As well as the two online questionnaires (one standard and one easy read), there was the opportunity to complete a paper questionnaire and return to us via freepost.
- There was the opportunity to request a questionnaire in another language or format.
If you missed the opportunity to share your views or ask questions about the proposals, you can still get in touch with us using the details below. However, your feedback will not be included in the analysis of the engagement or final report of findings.
- Email: llricb-llr.beinvolved@nhs.net
- Write to:
LLR ICB
G30 Pen Lloyd Building
Leicestershire County Council
Leicester Road, Glenfield
Leicester LE3 8TB
Thank you to Castle Mead Radio for their support with this engagement. Click here to read about Castle Mead Radio, including how to volunteer.
Engagement events
With support from the Rural Community Council (RCC), we hosted a number of engagement events. Click here to view the events calendar and see where we visited.
We were also invited to speak to various forums, including the Hinckley and Bosworth Voice Forum and Green Towers Hinckley Club 4 Young People.
There are no further engagement events planned, but if you have any questions, please email llricb-llr.beinvolved@nhs.net.
What happens next?
Now the engagement has come to an end, all of the feedback people have provided will be independently analysed and evaluated. A report of findings will then be produced and presented to the Integrated Care Board during a public meeting.
The report will be carefully considered to inform any decisions that the ICB make.
The details of the meeting will be published on this website in due course. If you wish to attend, you will need to register in advance.
We will also publish the report on this website and communicate further information about the outcome of the engagement, including the improvements that will be made.