"News about our Resource Centres"

Back at the beginning of the year, North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust took the difficult decision to temporarily close the Ashcombe Resource Centre and Sutherland Resource Centre.

At that time, we promised that the closure would be reviewed by the end of March 2011.

We are now pleased to announce that Ashcombe Centre will reopen on Monday May 9, 2011, 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

From now until then, we will be ensuring that our staff are supported in the move from the roles they have been in since January. When the Centre reopens, some faces will be familiar and you may see some new ones. During the temporary closure, we’ve been reviewing the skill mix of our staff. We want to ensure the right people are in the right place to give you the best care we can. This means our staff will be working where their skills are needed most.

The Sutherland Centre will need to remain closed for a bit longer. The building doesn’t quite meet new guidance produced by the Department of Health at the beginning of the year relating to single sex accommodation. We’ll need to spend some money to bring it up to the levels required by our regulators. We’ll keep you up to date with our plans.

We’d just like to reassure you that our community teams tell us that the beds across other centres have been used even more effectively since the closures, with Care Coordinators being even more proactive about care and discharge planning.

We’ll continue to use all our Resource Centres in the best way possible, for both our service users and in ensuring we run them efficiently and safely. Your views and feedback is important to us so please let us know how you feel by posting a comment or responding directly to;

Denise Pearson

Operations Manager

Harplands Hospital

Hilton Road

Harpfields

ST4 6TH

Telephone: 01782 441820

email: DeniseE.Pearson@northstaffs.nhs.uk