Making It Better announcement/Pennine Acute Trust response

Date published: 08/12/2006

Bob Chadwick, the Pennine Acute Trust Acting Chief Executive, and Dr Ruth Jameson, medical director, have issued the following statement in response to the Making It Better announcement:

http://www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/News/news.asp?ID=2572

We welcome a decision being made by the joint committee, as it removes uncertainty around the future of service reconfiguration. We now await its formal confirmation as being compatible with the Healthy Futures decision.

It supports the continued development of the highest possible quality services for all of our patients.

Bringing together staff and equipment for hospital inpatient services will give patients the safest possible treatment, with the best possible outcomes. We will no longer be stretching our resources thin, relying on the goodwill of staff who have had to make efforts over and above what should have been expected of them.

The challenge for all health professionals, whatever their role, is to work together to ensure that the implementation of these decisions are properly handled. Throughout this process, we will work hard to ensure that all staff are as involved as possible. We understand that this brings further uncertainties, but we will work hard to minimise those as far as possible.

We know that all staff are passionate about their services. Many of our staff have joined campaigns to outline the case for the changes they would have wished. They have shown passion and argued cases strongly. The next step will involve careful planning, with staff, patients and service users, to enable us to develop the right implementation programme.

Some changes will come more quickly than others, but even so, it will take us years to achieve them all. We will need the help of everyone to take us forward.

Bob Chadwick
Acting Chief Executive

Dr Ruth Jameson
Medical Director