Find out more and ask questions about a new £450 million cash injection for hospitals in Leicestershire

New online events are being set up to help people find out more and ask questions about a massive new £450 million cash injection boosting hospitals in Leicestershire.

The huge financial package is poised to transform, update and overhaul acute hospital and maternity services in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

The events are going ahead as part of the Building Better Hospitals for the Future public consultation, which launched at the end of September and runs until Monday December 21.

The engagement with local people revolves around services delivered at the three main hospitals in Leicester, run by University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) NHS Trust as well as the midwifery-led unit at St Mary’s Hospital, Melton Mowbray.

Public forum events will take place online, using Microsoft Teams, due to restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

To ensure people who aren’t online are still able to participate, there is an option to listen in by telephone and submit any questions in advance.

There are three types of online events:

Question and answer sessions with a panel of invited guests

Public events with the opportunity to discuss the consultation

Workshops on specific topics.

The question and answer panel sessions can host 1,000-plus attendees.

People will be able to ask questions during the event via the question and answer box within the Microsoft Teams Live platform - or submit them up to two hours in advance.

The sessions are due to be held on Monday October 12 (7pm-8.30pm), Thursday October 29 (10pm-11.30am) and Monday December 7 (7pm-8.30pm).

The public events will host up to 250 people.

People will be able to ask questions in exactly the same way as they would have done in a face-to-face public meeting, using Microsoft Teams.

The public events are due to take place on Wednesday October 14 (2pm-3.30pm), Thursday October 15 (7pm-8.30pm), Saturday October 31 (10pm-11.30am), Thursday November 12 (7pm-8.30pm), Saturday November 21 (2pm-3.30pm), Friday November 27 (10pm-11.30am), Wednesday December 2 (7pm-8.30pm), Saturday December 12 (2pm-3.30pm) and Sunday December 13 (2pm-3.30pm).

Workshops on specific topics within the consultation will also be staged to give more detailed insights and views.

These will be limited to a pre-registered audience of up to 15 people. People will have the choice of joining a workshop covering one of three topics on each date.

The workshops will take place on:

Monday October 26 (6pm-7.30pm), with topics covering a general discussion, Leicester Royal Infirmary, and Leicester General

Monday November 9 (11am-12.30pm) with topics covering a general discussion, carers, and maternity

Wednesday November 18 (6pm-7.30pm) with topics covering maternity, Glenfield Hospital, and Leicester General

Thursday November 19 (6pm-7.30pm) with topics covering a general discussion, Leicester Royal Infirmary, and the children’s hospital

Monday November 23 (6pm-7.30pm) with topics covering a general discussion, Glenfield Hospital, and Leicester Royal Infirmary.

Details of how to join the online events will be available on the consultation website: www.betterhospitalsleicester.nhs.ukAll the insights and feedback from the events will be captured and incorporated into the consultation to be analysed and evaluated.

Andy Williams, chief executive for the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland clinical commissioning groups, said: “These online events are a great way of helping more people to find out about the proposals and ask questions of leading clinicians and managers, than would have been possible at face-to-face meetings before the pandemic.

“We are spreading the message far and wide through the consultation documents, flyers, posters, media publicity, website, videos, social media and online meetings.”

He added: “In addition, voluntary and community sector representatives are supporting these efforts by using their extensive networks to further engage with local communities.

“We want as many people as possible to be engaged in this consultation and to have their say by completing the consultation questionnaire.”

The Building Better Hospitals for the Future proposals are set to deliver a number of significant changes in improving patient care, achieving better patient outcomes, and getting staff all working in the best place to make this happen.

The ambitious blueprint would provide 139 more hospital beds and change acute and maternity services by moving all acute care to Leicester Royal Infirmary and to Glenfield Hospital.

Acute care includes patients receiving treatment for severe injury or illness, urgent medical conditions, or during recovery from surgery.

The vast investment would also see the creation of a major planned care treatment centre at Glenfield Hospital.

This would separate planned operations and emergency procedures and help stop urgent pressures leading to the cancellation of routine surgery.

The treatment centre would slash the number of patients attending the Leicester Royal Infirmary site by more than half a million per year.

The first dedicated single-site children’s hospital in the East Midlands is also set to go ahead at the LRI’s Kensington Building.

A new maternity hospital will also be developed on the site.

And two ‘super’ intensive care units with 100 beds in total (almost double the current number) will be built at Leicester Royal Infirmary and Glenfield Hospital.

The consultation is being run by the three NHS clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland – Leicester City CCG, West Leicestershire CCG and East Leicestershire and Rutland CCG.

You can find more information on the public consultation by calling 0116 295 0750, emailing [email protected] and on the website www.betterhospitalsleicester.nhs.uk...