This statement is issued by Guildford & Waverley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), Royal Surrey County Hospital (RSCH), Surrey County Council Adult Social Care Team (SCC), and Cranleigh Village Hospital Trust (CVHT) to give an update on the progress regarding the future provision of enhanced healthcare facilities for the residents of Cranleigh and the surrounding villages. These four bodies have worked very closely together over the past few years to identify and prepare for essential enhancements to healthcare facilities in Cranleigh. One of the key steps towards achieving our objectives has been the recent signing by CVHT (as reported in their April Newsletter) of a ‘Heads of Terms Agreement’ with a leading UK healthcare provider, HC-One Limited, regarding the provision of 20 Community Beds as part of a larger care home on CVHT’s Knowle Lane site.
Community Beds
The need to provide Community Beds in Cranleigh (i.e. beds that effectively ‘replace’ those lost from the Cranleigh Village Hospital in 2006) has always been a key focus for the project. The planned integration of CVHT’s 20 Community Beds with HC One’s 60-bed unit is, by far, the most cost-effective and clinically-acceptable way of delivering these long-promised beds. Indeed, this NHS/Private integration strategy (which mirrors similar facilities owned by HC-One elsewhere in the UK) has allowed CVHT to double their originally intended bed-provision, i.e. from 10 to 20 beds. CVHT will maintain ownership of both these 20 beds and the whole Knowle Lane site.
Furthermore, as already reported, HC-One will not only build and equip the 20-bed wing but, as part of the leasing deal with CVHT, they will also con-tribute over £1M towards the building costs of the planned adjacent health-care staff accommodation block – which will also be wholly owned by CVHT. Both the CCG and SCC are strongly committed to the delivery of Community Beds, that are in close proximity to the main centres of need. This is not only the best way to deliver this service but also provides better outcomes for the patients, as well as being more acceptable to friends and relatives. The CCG and SCC have also worked very closely with CVHT to help ensure that the funding of the beds is affordable to their combined budgets for the longer term. Most importantly, the CCG and SCC, with the endorsement of the RSCH, have brought HC-One on board as their partner to oversee the day-to-day running of the Community Beds within the larger care home.
HC-One, ‘The Kind Care Company’ (and third largest care provider in the UK) has an outstanding reputation for delivering the highest quality care, and aims to be the provider of choice for individuals looking for the very best care and support, as well as being the employer of choice for the best, most professional, and kindest care staff.
Affordable staff accommodation
We, the stakeholders, are in full agreement that there is a clear and long-evident need for affordable staff accommodation; this has remained unmet for many years as health workers cannot currently be prioritised for affordable housing over those with genuine housing needs. We are, therefore, looking to deliver dedicated healthcare staff accommodation on the Knowle Lane site to help meet these needs. It is our belief that this dedicated accommodation unit will in the future be key to making local health services work.
Next steps
The development of detailed designs for the Knowle Lane site by HC-One and CVHT is now about to commence. When these details are suitably developed, invitations will be issued to key representatives of the community (including the Parish Council, our ward councillors and others at Waverley Borough Council (WBC), plus community groups) to a preview of the proposals ahead of the main public consultation, so that we can gain their early feedback. Immediately following that preview, a display of the development proposals will be set up in the patio-area of Oliver House on the High Street where all members of the public can view them and, indeed, ask questions. We expect to submit the planning application to WBC in late September and, given this timescale,
we envisage a decision by WBC in Spring/Summer 2018. Should we be granted planning consent, we would start construction shortly after that. We will keep all relevant parties updated through the development process, and look forward to the continued support of the community in the delivery of these exciting plans, which will bring new health services much closer to home for many patients.
If you have any questions, please contact CVHT via the following options: , or call CVHT’s office on 01483 276121 or drop into the
Information Centre/Charity Shop at Oliver House, Cranleigh High Street.
We, the residents of Cranleigh, over the past 10 years donated, raised, willed a huge amount of money for a new hospital with diagnostic facilities, and using our existing village hospital for beds for Cranleigh residents being discharged from hospital. What we have ended up with is a private care home comprising 80 beds with 20 being available for Waverley NHS patients and flats for staff.
What has happened to ALL of the money raised by Cranleigh residents? Is it being used to buy shares in the company that has secured the contract for this privately run enterprise? We have many care homes in the Waverley area, with Surrey county council feeling it could close our local authority home, Longfield and other local suthority homes in the area have been sold off.
The original appeal for money was for a new local hospital – our money has gone somewhere, and I for one would like to know where. There has been no mention of this money do it must be somewhere.