Skip to main content
Language Translation
Language Translation requires Additional Cookies enabled

Why do we need to change things?

In Coventry and Warwickshire, we use a “Community Integrator Model” to bring together different community support services under one provider. This allows us to offer safe, effective, and high-quality care closer to where patients live, meaning fewer patients need community rehabilitation beds. With new services now available, many patients can recover better and more quickly at home or in the community. 

Changes in the local population, patient needs, and national healthcare plans have made it important to review our community bed provision. Our aim is to make the best use of resources while helping patients recover and stay independent. 

Some of our key reasons for change

  • Growing demand and complex needs: An ageing population with more long-term conditions means we need to deliver care in the most suitable locations and ensure staff are trained to meet these needs.
  • Accessibility: Data shows most demand for community beds is in central and northern South Warwickshire, highlighting the need for services to be easily accessible in these areas.
  • Guidance from national and local plans: Strategies like the NHS Long Term Plan and Home First encourage care at home or in the community, as patients recover better this way. We know this approach improves care quality, supports independence, and reduces hospital reliance.
  • Building limitations: We have had to make changes to the original Ellen Badger site. This site originally had 16 beds, but the original building where the beds were located was not fit for purpose and could no longer deliver safe care. The changes we had to make mean that now only a maximum number of 12 beds can be placed at that site and we need to find the best way to accommodate the additional beds which could not go back.
  • By adapting to these changes, we can provide better care for our patients and use resources more effectively.

People and patients

Over the past few years, we’ve changed how we deliver care outside hospitals by focusing on local services that meet patients’ needs, usually within their own homes. These services help people avoid unnecessary hospital visits and recover at home after hospital stays. This approach has shaped how we provide care.

From the challenges of COVID-19 and winter bed shortages, we’ve learned that flexibility in using hospital beds is vital. During busy times, community rehabilitation beds near emergency services, like those in Leamington Spa and Stratford, can temporarily support patients needing more medical care as well as rehabilitation in addition to letting us add extra general beds. Having these beds close to other services helps us handle demand and meet patients’ needs better.

The additional care available at home and the ability to care for patients who are more unwell means that we need to review our community beds to make sure they are in the right place.

Travel and access

Making sure that people across South Warwickshire can get to our services as easily as possible has been really important to us when we have been developing our proposals, particularly for people in rural and underserved areas. Transport in rural areas is often difficult due to poor infrastructure and can often be impacted by bad weather or increased flooding. It is important to note that even rural areas which are geographically close together are not always linked by direct public transport, which often only provides connections into bigger towns and cities. When thinking about our options, we have to consider if they ensure equal access to care for all populations, including our various rural areas and if they enhance, or at least maintain, access for underserved or vulnerable groups. We also look at whether there are potential challenges in reaching care due to geographical changes. Over the last five years most people needing rehabilitation beds are in central and northern South Warwickshire. Patients will be transferred from where they were originally admitted for care, for example from the acute hospital to a community bed, by the NHS, and will remain there for the duration of their stay. Therefore, we have to think primarily about travel and transport impacts for our staff and for those visiting patients

Our staff

Like everywhere else, our local healthcare system is facing challenges. More people need care and the pressures of the pandemic have made things harder for our staff.

SWFTs ward teams are made up of a range of healthcare professionals, including 24-hour nursing care and input from Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists. Other specialist teams might also need to review patients using this service. Due to the complexity of patients we are now caring for, staff activity has increased over the last four years.

We need to consider how we configure our beds to:

  • Make the best use of our teams: bring more care into the community, so staff can focus on what patients need most. We need to consider where additional staffing is in place to manage increased operational pressures, and currently Leamington and Stratford have the most robust staffing models in place to meet the needs of the patients
  • Build a sustainable future: focus on community care instead of just emergency care, using our teams’ skills to provide the best care in the right places at the best time. Our rural areas are more difficult to recruit to, so we also need to consider how we build our workforce for the future.

Addressing health inequalities

We want to make sure everyone can get the rehabilitation care they need. This means thinking about how our plans could affect different groups of people, like older adults, people from different backgrounds, and those living in the countryside.

Some groups of people face problems when trying to get health services:

  • People in rural areas: People living in the countryside, like in Shipston, may find it hard to get to hospitals because they are far away and there isn’t much public transport. This negatively impacts on patient recovery if their loved ones are unable to visit.
  • Busy towns and cities: Towns like Leamington and Stratford have more people needing care, and there is a mix of people with different incomes and needs.
  • People with less money or from different cultures: People who don’t have much money or come from different cultural backgrounds might find it harder to get to appointments or use health services.

We want everyone to have equitable access to healthcare. Our Integrated Care Strategy has a priority to support people at home, helping people to stay independent and live at home whenever possible. We need to consider how we make sure that access to services is fair and easy for everyone to use, regardless of who they are and where they live, and to see if we can make things better for everyone, especially groups who might face disadvantages or discrimination.

The financial case

Both of the proposals that we are considering in this consultation have different costs associated with them. This table shows you what those costs are.

Option A requires a capital cost of £1,619,000. These costs relate to replacement of infrastructure, such as a new generator, which are key to operation and refurbishment costs to reconfigure the space to meet modern clinical standards. Option A would cost £5,895,000 a year to deliver. 

Option B does not require any new capital as both Campion and Nicol Unit are already in operation. Option B would cost £5,544,000 a year to deliver.

Capital cost is money that is spent on the things we need to run the NHS, like buildings, equipment, and infrastructure. Revenue cost is money that we use to cover day-to-day spending, like heating, salaries, and materials.