A service that allows sick children in Chester to receive hospital care in the comfort of their own homes will continue, following months of steadfast campaigning.
Earlier this year, the West Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) sparked outrage when they announced they would be axing the £450,000 funding to provide the service at the Countess of Chester Hospital, which many parents branded 'vital' to scores of children who benefitted from receiving hospital care at home.
The service also enabled more beds to be free for youngsters who were in urgent need of them.
When the CCG said that the service had been introduced as a pilot and was being pulled because subsequent anticipated savings had ‘not been realised’, it led to a campaign group organising a petition against the decision, which gathered more than 5,000 signatures.
They then announced in April that they had agreed to suspend the funding cuts pending a review at the end of June 'to allow time for senior management teams and clinicians from both organisations to listen to the views of patients and their families'.
Related : Cheshire MPs join campaign against funding cuts
However, this week they revealed that as of July 1, the service will be continuing as usual.
A statement from the CCG and the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said:
"We are pleased to announce that the Children’s Hospital at Home service delivered by the Trust will continue for local children from July 1, 2016.
"In April we jointly agreed to suspend proposed changes to the Children’s Hospital at Home service until the end of June 2016 to allow time for senior management teams and clinicians from both organisations to listen to the views of patients and their families.
Related : Chester parents set up petition to reverse 'terrible decision' to axe hospital at home funding
"As part of this process, senior representatives from both organisations arranged to meet representatives of affected families on June 23, 2016. At this meeting they were informed of the decision to continue the service."
However, Katie Kendrick from the campaign group Save Our Hospital at Home said while they welcomed the announcement, they still had concerns over how the service would be staffed.
She said: "Whilst we are delighted with the assurances that the paediatric hospital at home service will be continued, and that no family should experience any change in service from the service delivered prior to April this year, we do still have concerns about how this will work operationally now that over half of the original team have been redeployed elsewhere within paediatrics.
"We understand the pressures that the Trust and the CCG have with trying to do more with less, and we will continue to raise this with our political representatives."
Katie added: "We will continue to monitor the service and speak with both the Trust and the CCG, so if anyone has any instance where they cannot access the service, we ask that they let both us and Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) know, so that we can ensure that it is fed back."
The Chronicle has contacted the CCG for further comment on the matter.
