Hundreds more patients could be treated at Pinderfields under NHS changes

Health bosses have launched a consultation on changes to children’s surgery and stroke services which would see people travel away from their local hospital for treatment.

Staffing shortages have led to proposals for hospitals in Barnsley, Chesterfield and Rotherham to cease carrying out some operations on children.

Children who need surgery at evenings or weekends, or those who need to stay in hospital overnight, would instead be taken to Pinderfields, Doncaster or Sheffield.

A consultation document said: “Nationally, there aren’t enough healthcare professionals qualified to treat the amount of children who need surgery every year.

“Our proposed changes are not about cutting services or saving money, but using what we have in the best possible way to get the best services for everyone.”

Under separate proposals, the treatment of patients who need specialist care after having a stroke would no longer happen at Barnsley and Rotherham hospitals.

Some patients would go to hyperacute stroke units at Sheffield, Doncaster or Pinderfields for treatment in the first 72 hours after their stroke.

A consultation document on the stroke services proposal said: “We need more stroke doctors and nurses to run the existing services but there aren’t enough locally and nationally.”

Public consultations on both proposals are being held between now and January 20.

Martin Barkley, chief executive of Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust, said: “If the proposals end up being supported they will lead to beneficial changes for Pinderfields Hospital.

“We’ll get an estimated additional 300 children’s surgery referrals to us a year and about an extra 200 to 250 stroke patients treated a year.”