Changes at Cheltenham Hospital

2013 Early Day Motion called by Alex Chalk MP in Parliament about Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Surgery Strategy proposals

2014 Vascular Surgery centralises at Cheltenham General Hospital

2017 Reorganisation of Trauma and Orthopaedics – All trauma/emergency and major elective spinal surgery to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital and elective orthopaedics to Cheltenham General Hospital.

2017 All Emergency medicine centralised to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.

2017 Cardiology and Gastroenterology centralised to Cheltenham General Hospital.

2018 Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trusts publishes proposal to move emergency and elective general surgery from Cheltenham General Hospital to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.

2019 Gloucestershire Hospital NHS Foundation Trust withdraws plans to move emergency and elective general surgery from Cheltenham General Hospital after threat of Judicial Review.

2019 (August) – The NHS in Gloucestershire launches “Fit for the Future” consultation on a range of ideas and potential solutions for how community urgent ‘same day’ care and specialist hospital services could be provided across the county. The document centred on ideas to support faster and more convenient urgent same day advice and care, and a centres of excellence approach at Gloucester and Cheltenham hospitals.

2019 (October) – Medical Director, Dr Mark Pietroni confirmed on BBC Points West that there will be no changes to Cheltenham’s A&E. He said: “We have no plans to close the A&E at Cheltenham. What we mean is a continuation of the same service, the same workforce we have now which includes consultants… no change to the service model… which includes consultants leading the service”.

2020 (April) – Emergency General Surgery centralised at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital as part of “temporary reconfiguration”.

2020 (June) – Cheltenham Emergency Department become a Minor Injuries and Illness Unit (MIIU) from 8am to 8pm, 7 days a week and is closed overnight as part of “temporary” changes for an initial period of 3 months.

2020 (June) – Relocation of Cardiovascular Surgery from Cheltenham General Hospital to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital as part of second phase of “temporary reconfiguration”.

2020 (August) – Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust declares a critical incident due to “higher levels” of demand on emergency services.

2020 (September) – It is reported in the local media that the NHS trust now wants to extend the temporary closure of Cheltenham A&E until the end of March 2021.

2020 (October) – One Gloucestershire launch their “Fit for the Future” consultation on how best to provide specialist hospital services across the Cheltenham General and Gloucestershire Royal Hospital sites in the future.

2021 (February) – Announcement that Cheltenham A&E will re-open no later than 1st July 2021. Read the REACH reaction here. This further extended the closure announced in June 2020 that was originally for 3 months.

2021 (February) – In a meeting on the 26th February with representatives of REACH, Simon Lanceley (Director of Strategy and Transformation), stated that “eight of the nine ‘temporary reconfigurations’ implemented in response to the Covid pandemic, including re-opening Cheltenham A&E and restoring vascular surgery to Cheltenham, would be completed by 1 July.  The first would be the re-opening of the Aveta Birthing Unit on 8th March.  The only one that would not be reversed was the transfer of Emergency General Surgery from Cheltenham to Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.”  

2021 (March) – NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group’s Governing Body approved a number of resolutions relating to the medium and long term future of some specialist hospital services across the Cheltenham General and Gloucestershire Royal hospital sites which will result in a number of services being withdrawn from Cheltenham General. This was contrary to assurances given to REACH in February, less than one month previously.