Writing in this week’s Redditch Standard (April 15th), Rachel said:
“Ever since Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust confirmed the Garden Suite will be returned to the Alexandra Hospital following our long and hard-fought campaign, I’ve been holding Acute Trust bosses to account to ensure this service is returned as soon as possible.
“I’m going to share with you everything that the Acute Trust has told me as I want to keep you in the loop with the latest developments.
“The first stage of the work to return the Garden Suite to the Alex has been completed. The first stage involved the Acute Trust reviewing the demand and capacity requirements for ambulatory chemotherapy services in Worcestershire in order to determine the activity volumes which would flow through each of the three units, and therefore the size of each unit required.
“By returning the Garden Suite to the Alex, we’re returning to a situation in Worcestershire where all three of the Trust’s hospitals provide chemotherapy. This was the case before the pandemic struck and it will continue to be the case as we learn to live with COVID.
“The next stage involves the Trust identifying suitable locations on the Alex site. This is happening right now.
“As I’ve talked about before, the Garden Suite will need to be located in a suitable COVID-secure setting at the Alex as chemotherapy patients are immunosuppressed. The Trust will be finalising the options appraisal by the end of the month.
Once this work has been completed I will update you again – just as I have been doing throughout this campaign.
“With the Garden Suite returning to the Alex, the opening of the purpose-built breast imaging unit and state-of-the-art robot-assisted surgery finally on its way to the Alex, it shows our hospital has a bright future ahead of it. I will continue to fight for the Alex.”
