Following representations to Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust and Oldham Council, there is now greater clarity about the proposed changes to Orchard House Day Hospital in Royton.
It is welcome news that Orchard House itself is not closing and that existing patients will continue to receive support. However, direct referrals will stop from 28 August, which is a significant change to the service.
Orchard House provides much more than clinical treatment. For many older people, the routine, activities, friendships and social support it provides are vital to their wellbeing and independence.
There must be clear answers about what support patients will receive under the new arrangements, where it will be provided, and what happens to those who would previously have been referred to Orchard House.
Pennine Care and the Council have acknowledged that communication and engagement “have not been as clear as they should have been.” Patients and families deserve meaningful involvement in these changes and reassurance that they will not result in people receiving less support.
More widely, I continue to be alive to the worry that if we fail to provide adequate community-based healthcare, we force more people into hospital and more intensive, expensive treatment. That is bad for the NHS, bad for the taxpayer, and bad for local people.
The concerns of patients, families and the wider Royton community will continue to be raised with the NHS and local partners.
Jim McMahon OBE MP 