Stafford's County Hospital 'still underused' for operations
Stafford's County Hospital remains under-used nearly two years after a strategy was drawn up to move more patients there.
Bosses warned in 2018 that County Hospital was "not sustainable" as it was and that more services needed to be moved from Stoke to make better use of the site.
And senior medics say theatres are still not being used enough, with usage described as 'flat'.
Bosses at the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust (UHNM), which runs both County Hospital and Royal Stoke Hospital, said efforts were ongoing to determine which procedures could be shifted south.
It was suggested in 2018 that more than 2,000 operations could be moved to make Stafford's hospital viable for the coming years.
Trust board members expressed frustration with the situation at County during a recent meeting.
According to the minutes of the meeting, non-executive director A Hassell "referred to theatre utilisation at County Hospital which was looking flat".
Director of strategy and transformation Helen Ashley said work was "being undertaken to establish the procedures undertaken at Royal Stoke which could be done at County Hospital, as well as identifying procedures being done in the theatres at County Hospital which could be done in a different environment'.
Concerns over the future of County Hospital emerged in April 2018 when UHNM bosses warned it could not continue to operate as it was. The hospital does not have a 24-hour A&E department.
A trust spokesman insisted the hospital remained an "important local facility".
The spokesman said: “Over recent years there has been significant investment in improving facilities and services at County Hospital, which includes new laminar flow clean air theatres, a new Renal Unit, two permanent MRI scanners, a new Chemotherapy Unit as well as several new wards.
“The hospital remains an important local facility and we are always looking at developing opportunities to enhance services in Stafford. County can often offer people a shorter waiting time for their non-urgent procedures as well as a high quality experience so we encourage people to choose this option. We are also actively looking at which other elective procedures may be best provided at County.”
