Hospital needs viable, cost-effective solution

IT is quite right that local people show an interest in their local NHS (Pleas to Support Hospital s Future, September 20) and it is understandable that people wish to protect their health services. Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust is currently undertaki

IT is quite right that local people show an interest in their local NHS (Pleas to Support Hospital's Future, September 20) and it is understandable that people wish to protect their health services.

Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust is currently undertaking a review of all its community hospitals to look at how services are provided and how they might be provided in the future.

Hinchingbrooke Hospital and its services were looked at earlier this year and we are confident that its future is now sustainable.

We are now under-taking a pre-consultation on the future model of care at Davison House, Brookfields Hospital as part of the community hospital review and are looking for a service model that is clinically viable and cost-effective.

While it would not be sensible to make a cast-iron guarantee about the Princess of Wales Hospital's future, one criterion we have agreed for a sustainable hospital is that, like the Princess of Wales, it should be some distance from a major acute hospital.

CHRIS BANKS

Chief executive, Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust