GPs in North Staffordshire have said they want to see a new multispecialty community provider set up for the region instead of the larger organisation covering the whole county outlined in its sustainability and transformation partnership.
The North Staffordshire GP Federation has said it does not support the model outlined in the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent STP or capped expenditure plans, which it said are aimed at the creation of a single community and mental health provider covering Staffordshire and Shropshire.
Earlier this month, Stuart Poynor stepped down as chief executive of Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Partnership Trust to head up commissioning for the region with NHS England.
Neil Carr, chief executive of the South Staffordshire and Shropshire Healthcare Foundation Trust, has taken on the same role at the trust.
In a statement to HSJ, the GP federation said it recognised the significant financial challenges facing Staffordshire and it supported plans for new care models, but added: “This model we believe should be developed as an MCP, ensuring that the resources available are used effectively to meet needs. We believe this model supports the CEP proposals for our main acute provider [University Hospitals of North Midlands Trust].
“We are very clear that the MCP model should be based on the local North Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent footprint, recognising that the needs for the local communities are different from the needs elsewhere in Staffordshire.
“We have no desire to preserve the existing out of hospital provider organisations – indeed we plan that these organisations will be subsumed into the MCP. Our concern with the current STP/CEP plans is that the proposal to create a huge and unwieldy community and mental health provider organisation potentially covering Staffordshire and Shropshire will significantly inhibit the agreed STP MCP/locality model.”
Full story in The HSJ, 27 July 2017