THE latest stage of work on a long-running project re-organising hospital services in Worcestershire has begun.

The Future of Acute Hospital Services in Worcestershire project – which is working on restructuring healthcare in the county to make better use of resources while saving cash – has been in progress since 2012 and was originally due to be fully complete by the end of last year.

But it has been beset by a series of delays and last year was pushed back even further while the West Midlands Clinical Senate put together an independent report into the plans, which was released in May.

Although the senate backed plans to set up a Major Emergency Centre at Worcestershire Royal Hospital where the most serious accidents and injuries will be treated as well as an Emergency Centre at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, it also told the programme board to go back to the drawing board on the emergency care elements of the proposal.

Speaking at a meeting last week of the board of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust – which runs the two sites as well as Kidderminster Hospital – interim chief executive Chris Tidman said work was underway.

“Clearly given the fragility of some of our services there is close scrutiny on this process,” he said.

It is hoped a long-awaited public consultation into the plans – initially due to be launched last September – can be held later this year.

The senate also ordered the programme board to draw up detailed plans on how more space will be made at the Royal to deal with the expected increased amount of paediatric cases and to ensure patients and staff better understand where sick children from the Redditch and Bromsgrove area should be taken.

Other elements of the project including centralising maternity, gynaecology and emergency surgery services at the Royal have been supported while the senate has asked the programme board to ensure the plan was fully supported by acute trust clinicians before the consultation is launched.