- A £58,000 appeal is being launched today (Thursday) to provide
state-of-the-art equipment at Rugby's Hospital of St. Cross. The Critical Care
Appeal will provide a new orthopaedic operating theatre and 20 new beds on
Rowan Ward at the Barby Road hospital.
Rugby Advertiser 16 October 2002
- PEOPLE in Rugby are refusing to make donations to the Friends of St.
Cross's Critical Care Appeal because they fear the hospital is closing.
Rugby Advertiser
02 January 2003
- TWO top orthopaedic surgeons will be guest speakers at the Friends of the
Hospital of St. Cross's annual meeting on Monday. Professor Damian Griffin and
Dr. Tim Spalding will give a talk concerning orthopaedic developments and the
proposed new unit at the Barby Road hospital.
Rugby Advertiser
09 April 2003
- New £1 million operating theatre at St. Cross. RUGBY'S Hospital of St.
Cross is another step towards becoming a centre for excellence in orthopaedic
surgery after the delivery of a new £1million operating theatre.
Rugby Advertiser 04 September 2003
- Information gathered 18 February 2004. The new operating theatre is
for use by orthopaedic patients when Coventry and Warwickshire Hospital
closes, and is not yet in use. One of the four other operating theatres
is also currently out of use because of staff shortage.
- A FUN-PACKED open day at Rugby's Hospital of St. Cross let people have
their say on local health services. Saturday's event gave people the chance to
air their opinions about the expansion of the Barby Road hospital.
Rugby Advertiser
29 April 2004.
- CHANGES to potentially life-saving operations, which could lead to job
losses at Rugby's hospital, have been defended by its Managing Director.
Worried workers at St. Cross contacted the Advertiser who express their fears
over the new services, which include alterations to the switchboard operation
and their Pathology Department.
Rugby Advertiser 27 October 2005.
- Bowel screening
launch curtailed. The Government's own cancer screening tsar has
contradicted ministers' insistence that the national bowel cancer screening
programme will go ahead this month 'as planned'. Julietta Patnick, director of
NHS Cancer Screening Programmes, said: "I don't know how much money I've got,
I don't know how many screening centres I can open, and we haven't bought the
kits yet." The programme would probably go ahead in some form, she said. But
the situation was on "an amber light". In a response to a Parliamentary
question about the issue, health minister Rosie Winterton could only identify
one area where the programme was going ahead - the existing pilot site in
Rugby, which has been operating for six years.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public
of
DoctorUpdate 5 April 2006
- Subject: St Cross
From: dwood@fsmail.net
Date: Sun, September 3, 2006 3:08 pm
To:
sheila@healthdemocracy.org.uk
Please find
attached
my concerns about the recent proposals for St Cross
- Views to be revealed on health plans. COMMENTS on radical proposals
affecting the treatment of seriously-ill patients in Rugby are set to be
released. Findings from the Coventry and Warwickshire's Acute Services Review
are due to be released on Monday. The review - commissioned by the West
Midlands South Strategic Health Authority - put forward a number of
suggestions affecting each of the hospitals in Warwickshire. Among the ideas
included sending ambulances treating patients in Rugby during 'off-peak' times
to the University Hospital in Coventry, rather than the Hospital of St. Cross.
Rugby Advertiser
11 January 2007
- Health service shake-up defended. PROPOSALS to transfer
seriously-ill patients in Rugby straight to Coventry, and further cuts to bed
numbers, have been approved - and defended. Under new recommendations,
patients during 'off peak' hours and weekends will be taken straight to the
University Hospital for treatment, rather than the Hospital of St. Cross. The
plans were put forward by the Coventry and Acute Services Review Board, which
has been considering a number of plans affecting hospitals across
Warwickshire. Although it means patients would have to wait longer for
treatment, Dr. Mark Newbold, managing director for the St. Cross, said it
would help Rugby patients access greater care faster.
Rugby Advertiser
16 January 2007
- Shift of breast screening to Coventry denied. HOSPITAL chiefs
have denied that breast cancer services are leaving Rugby - but admitted some
patients WILL soon have to travel out of town for potentially life-saving
treatment. Under plans introduced in July, patients referred to the breast
cancer surgical team, with new symptoms, will now have to go to Coventry's
University Hospital. The plans were disclosed after anxious patients contacted
the Advertiser this week after hearing reports that services were being closed
at the Barby Road site. Although Dr. Mark Newbold - Managing Director of St.
Cross - said the overall breast cancer service would remain open, some
patients would have to travel to Coventry in order to receive the 'best' care
available. He said: "University Hospital is a Centre of Excellence for breast
care and as such now has some of the most advanced diagnostic equipment and
scanners available in the NHS. Therefore, it is entirely appropriate that we
give all Rugby women - who potentially may have breast cancer - access to the
very best diagnostic and medical care while ensuring as much of their care as
possible is carried out locally." The service at St. Cross currently provides
treatment for dozens of the borough's patients diagnosed with the disease
every year. However, the new procedure means patients with new symptoms will
have diagnostic tests - which help detect the extent of the disease - carried
out in Coventry. Dr. Newbold told the Rugby Advertiser this week that the
plans would affect between three and five women per week. He stressed though
that the breast cancer service at St. Cross would remain open, and he added
that patients' follow-up care - including outpatient appointments - would also
continue in Rugby.
Rugby Advertiser 24 May 2007
- St. Cross protesters get set to take to the street. CAMPAIGNERS
battling against further cuts to
Rugby's Hospital of St. Cross may take their fight to the streets - and
ask YOU to join them. The Hands Off St. Cross (HOST) group has announced two
provisional marches protesting against service reductions affecting the Barby
Road hospital. It's hoped the marches, involving cross-party councillors and
the public and heading from Rugby to Coventry's University Hospital, would
demonstrate support for the hospital and opposition against any further cuts.
Cllr. Gordon Collett, county councillor for Dunchurch and HOST member, said he
hoped the walks, reminiscent of protests against the planned Rugby airport
earlier in the decade, would attract thousands of 'fed up' people eager to
show health chiefs their feelings. He said: "We want them to realise the
implications of what they are doing. I'm sure we helped change the
government's mind about the airport and I'm sure we can persuade them again to
keep services at St. Cross. If anyone is foolish enough not to notice people
power, they do so at their peril." The first march involving councillors could
take place before Christmas, with the second larger trek held next spring.
Cllr. Collett stressed both marches were dependant on any further cuts to St.
Cross. Meanwhile, council leader Craig Humphrey has directed £250 of council
funds to help the group. The money, approved a council meeting on Tuesday
night, will 'kick-start' the work of HOST, which was set up last month after
Conservative party leader David Cameron questioned the hospital's future. As
reported last week, Phil Townsend, Chair of University Hospitals Coventry and
Warwickshire NHS Trust, described plans to close St. Cross as 'rubbish' - but
could not rule out services switching to Coventry to allow 'best medical care'
for Rugby patients. And speaking at Tuesday's meeting, Cllr. Dr. Ben Ferrett
(Lab, Brownsover South) accused political rivals of 'planting the seeds' of
closure fears for 'party political advantage'. Liberal Democrat Party Leader
Cllr. Jerry Roodhouse (Lib, Eastlands) said there were 'complex issues' to
discuss.
Rugby Advertiser 11 October 2007
- St. Cross campaigners claim breakthrough in saving hospital.
CAMPAIGNERS are claiming a 'major breakthrough' in the battle to save Rugby's
Hospital of St. Cross. Andy King, Labour's Prospective Parliamentary Candidate
for Rugby, this week claimed Warwickshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) has
committed 'necessary' financial support for the Barby Road hospital - the
subject of recent possible closure speculation. Together with Coventry PCT,
Mr. King says they have agreed financial support for the hospital on condition
that more services are provided locally. And although Mr. King said he
understood if the claims were met by 'cynicism', he believed it could see a
return of previously-axed services to the hospital. He said: "As far as I'm
concerned, we will see a return of many of the services that people feared
have been threatened or temporarily moved. We have got a tremendous local
hospital serving the community and I believe this is a major breakthrough."
The hospital's future was plunged into doubt earlier this year when
Conservative leader David Cameron listed the hospital as one of 29 'at risk'
of closure.
Rugby Advertiser 15
November 2007
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