This consultation is now closed. To read the results as they were presented to the Integration Joint Board, please visit the IJB web page and click the link for the “Tuesday 29 October 2024” meeting.

UPDATE – 4 July 2024. The original in-person and virtual drop-in events planned as part of this consultation were originally planned for the period from May to  August. After the General Election was called for 4 July 2024, they were postponed. For more information, please click here to read the statement from Dumfries and Galloway Health and Social Care Partnership. The new dates, times and locations of all in-person and virtual public events are given below.

In 2022 and 2023, we carried out public engagement to learn what people thought about health care in their areas. As a result, after a separate consultation last year, the Integration Joint Board (IJB), the body responsible for health and social care in Dumfries and Galloway, decided to adopt a flexible bed approach to intermediate care – care delivered away from home but not in a major hospital. Under this approach, the IJB would commission care beds in each Home Team area, which could be used flexibly, to provide whatever care was needed – such as step-down care for people leaving hospital, respite care for people living at home with Carers, and many other types. You can read more about this decision at this link. 

We have also recognised the need to make best use of our cottage hospitals to meet the needs of local people and avoid unnecessary travel out of the area. In particular, we’ve engaged around the four locations where in-patient services are currently suspended – Kirkcudbright, Moffat, Newton Stewart, and Thornhill. Earlier this year we held a series of workshops in which staff and interested members of the public worked together to develop options for the future of these four cottage hospitals.

The resulting options for each cottage hospital have been subjected to a non-financial options appraisal process, involving people who access the service, people who deliver the service and people who manage the service. This has resulted in the options being ranked in order and you can see those results in the document titled ‘Results from Options Appraisal’ linked below. The options were scored against five criteria: Strategic Fit, Sustainability, Safety, Utility, and Timeframe.

At the same time we carried out a financial appraisal, equality impact assessment, climate and environmental assessment, and risk assessment.

As with any major service change, the options are now out for public consultation. We encourage anyone with an interest – staff, patients and their families, and members of the public across Dumfries and Galloway – to give their views on each option. You can also suggest other ideas and approaches which you would like to be considered. The consultation will finish on 27 September 2024. You can read about the launch of this consultation, and watch an animation explaining it, by clicking here.

The results of this consultation along with the assessments and financial appraisal mentioned above will be presented to the IJB, which will make the final decision on how to proceed with each of the four cottage hospitals.

In the consultation documents for each of the four hospitals, which are linked below, you’ll find a description of each option, the ranking each one received during the options appraisal, and space for you to give your views – what you like about the option, what you dislike, and any other comments. Also linked below are documents giving more background information on intermediate care in Dumfries and Galloway. You can also find a list of Frequently Asked Questions.

Click on the buttons below to read and respond to the consultation documents.