We’re encouraging our residents to have their say as we put together a detailed plan of what our services will look like in the future.

This is because we’re developing our clinical strategy which will set out how we can meet the growing demand and changing needs of our patients, while still providing the best possible care.

Magda Smith, our Chief Medical Officer, said: “Our clinical strategy is a detailed plan of what our hospitals will look like in years to come, helping us to ensure we can continue to provide high quality care for local people.

“A lot has changed since our last strategy in 2016, there is increasing pressure on healthcare services and our population is increasing, a trend which will continue. That’s why it’s vital we use our resources effectively so we can meet the changing needs of our patients in a safe and sustainable way. We want to make sure they are treated by the right person, in the right place, at the right time – whether that’s in our hospitals or not.”

Development of the strategy is being led by our clinicians and staff, working closely alongside our partners including GPs and local councils.

As the project goes into its second phase, where a list of possible options for delivering care are developed from which preferred options will go into a final draft strategy, local people are being asked to give their views on an ‘evaluation criteria’.

This is a set of standards which will be applied to each option to see which would work and provide the most benefit to patients.

There will be some options which are not up for consideration, for example we will keep a Type 1 Emergency Department at both our hospitals.

As well as sharing your  views on what the criteria should include, you’re also able to give feedback on three key documents which were developed in phase one.

Share your views via an online survey, which can be found here. It’s open until Friday 6 September.

The first phase of the strategy, which began in May, involved collecting a wide range of views and evidence, to get a complete picture of local services and understand what’s likely to change over the coming years.

This resulted in a set of ‘fact packs’, put together following a series of interviews, workshops and surveys with staff and partners.

From this we had our principles and objectives of the strategy, a case for change (looking at where improvements can be made), and ten priority areas.