Healthy Weston

The Healthy Weston 2 Programme has been designed to secure Weston General Hospital as a thriving and sustainable hospital at the heart of the community.

There will be plenty of opportunity to be involved and we will keep you updated as our work progresses, through online briefing sessions, drop-in opportunities and more. Watch this space for further details coming soon.

What is the Healthy Weston programme?

Complementing the routine, ongoing service developments, plans were approved by Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire’s ICB Board in April 2023, focussing on further enhancing, transformation and delivery of safe, high-quality and sustainable urgent care services at Weston General Hospital. The planned changes will mean more people are able to receive high-quality treatment and care faster, with shorter stays in hospital supported by closer working across hospital and community-based health and social care teams.

Plans include:

A same day emergency care (SDEC) service, which would allow people to be rapidly assessed, diagnosed, and treated, without being admitted to a ward or trolleyed area, seven days a week, 8am – 10pm, supported with increased access to rapid diagnostic radiology tests.
Enhancements to the Acute Monitoring Unit (AMU) and Emergency Department Observation Unit for adults, providing faster assessment, treatment and discharge.
Enhancements to the existing Geriatric Emergency Medicine (GEMS) service, which is already an award-winning clinical speciality at Weston General Hospital that provides emergency treatment for people who live with frailty.
Implementing an Older People’s Assessment Unit (OPAU) – a short stay ward for older people with 14 beds for stays of up to 72 hours, with experts in care of older people providing rapid assessment, diagnosis, and treatment.
Increasing surgical efficiencies in existing Weston General Hospital theatres that begin to improve access to some surgeries for local people.

The plans have been designed by local clinicians and informed by engagement with more than 5,000 local people, and involve recruiting almost 80 additional whole time equivalent staff to work at Weston General Hospital.

The hospital will continue to provide A&E services from 8am to 10pm, exactly the same as for the last six years. People using most of Weston General Hospital’s services will not see any changes to the services they access locally. Outpatient appointments, maternity care, children’s services, cancer care, diagnostic tests intensive care, emergency surgery, and pharmacy will all continue as usual with the aim of developing and strengthening delivery at Weston General Hospital.

You can read more about the plans in the full ICB board paper on the ICB website.

Healthy Weston – the story so far

We have a big ambition for Weston General Hospital to lead the country in delivering high-quality, safe, joined-up health services that meet the specific needs of local people, now and in the future, working in new and innovative ways with health and care partners.

We are already on the way to achieving this ambition through the first phase of Healthy Weston, where we addressed some urgent challenges and delivered real improvements to care. Following a public consultation in 2019, changes to services were implemented at Weston General Hospital making those services safer and more sustainable, including critical care, urgent and emergency care, emergency surgery and acute paediatrics. We established much closer working between local GPs and hospital staff and put more focus on providing the services needed by the majority of local people, most of the time.

These improvements were all delivered as part of the initial phase of the Healthy Weston programme. We were clear then that we would need to build on these and explore more opportunities to bring further resilience and stability to Weston General Hospital to fully achieve our ambition. We want to create a centre of excellence in Weston, playing to the unique strengths and further developing the new ways of working already underway.

This second, and final phase of the Healthy Weston programme will focus on securing Weston General Hospital as a thriving hospital at the heart of the community.

There is a positive and exciting future for Weston General Hospital delivering exceptional care and services for our communities and visitors to the area. This future is being developed by health and care professionals alongside patients and local people.