Members of the public are invited to come along to Sutton Coldfield’s Gracechurch shopping centre this Saturday 31 January between 9am and 5pm and visit the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust stand to pick up information about plans being proposed to change surgical services across the region.

The aim of the stands is to give locals the chance to gather information being distributed which explains the proposals which aim to create specialist surgical centres at the Trust’s three hospital sites locally to them and at their own convenience. As well as information stands, the Trust, which runs Good Hope Hospital, has been running a series of public engagement meetings as part of the consultation which commenced in October 2014. These events give clinical leaders from the hospital an opportunity to listen to what patients and the public think of the proposed re-design and what they want from the services in the future.

Professor Matthew Cooke, deputy medical director, is actively encouraging local people to have their say on proposals which aim to create specialist surgical centres at the Trust’s three hospital sites. The Trust is confident that these changes will help it to provide the very best care possible to patients.

He said: “We are encouraged by the feedback received so far, and are looking forward to the next three meetings. It shows that the vast majority of people (79%) are supportive of creating specialist centres where they can have their operation, whilst having the convenience of the out-patient appointments, investigations and post-operative care at their local hospital.

“We recognise that most of the challenges have focused on transport and we are working hard to find solutions. We will also be working closely with our own staff over the coming months to understand and address their concerns.

“There is, undoubtedly, a lot more work to do and following the end of the initial public engagement period in February 2015, there will then be another public consultation, led by the Clinical Commissioning Groups, in the summer before the final plans are then confirmed.”

Along with the Gracechurch shopping centre stand, there will be future events at locations across the region. There has also been a public information event confirmed to be held on Wednesday 4 February at the Ramada Jarvis Hotel in Sutton Coldfield, Penns Lane, Walmley, B76 1LH.

Start times for each venue are 10am, 1pm and 6pm, when there will be a presentation followed by a group Q&A session. During the periods between presentations, the team will be on hand to answer any questions on a drop-in basis. Verbal and written feedback from all of the meetings and events will, as always, be taken.

All of the feedback from the Trust’s meetings is being recorded and will be summarised in a public report in March 2015 and will be published in full on Trust’s website.

Since the public consultation’s launch in October 2014, the Trust has:

• sent 60,000 information booklets and feedback forms to the public, staff and other key stakeholders
• shared information with its 100,000 members, 937 community groups, 55 libraries, 82 pharmacies and 420 GPs
• addressed 600 members of the public
• held 13 public meetings
• distributed information in four shopping centres
• attended 7 ward committee meetings.

To date, 124 people have sent in written feedback, with 79% supporting the Trust’s plans to create centres of excellence for surgery with outpatient appointments remaining at their local hospital’ and 11% disagreeing.

Anyone wishing to find out more about the proposals and give their feedback should visit the Trust’s website at www.heartofengland.nhs.uk/surgery-reconfiguration; email: surgeryreconfiguration@heartofengland.nhs.uk; call 0121 424 3838 or send a tweet to @heartofengland.”