Dumfries & Galloway Health & Social Care

Consultation on the future of cottage hospitals in Kirkcudbright, Moffat, Newton Stewart and Thornhill

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.

This consultation is now closed.

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.

You can learn more about the consultation, pick up paper copies of all the documents, and make your views known at one of our in-person events.  If you cannot attend any of them, you can join one of our two virtual consultations using Microsoft Teams.  See below for the dates, times and locations of all the in-person events.

You do not need to register in advance to take part in an in-person event – simply walk in at any time during the event. To take part in a virtual event, please email dg.rcrp@nhs.scot for an invitation. Virtual events will take place on Microsoft Teams on these dates:

Thursday 5th September 14:00 – 15:00

Friday 20th September 10:00 – 11:00

 
AreaDayDateTimeVenue 
KirkcudbrightTue20th August15:00 – 19:00Kirkcudbright Parish Church Hall 
Newton StewartWed21st August15:00 – 19:00McMillan Hall 
StranraerThu22nd August15:00 – 19:00Stranraer Millennium Centre 
DumfriesTue27th August15:00 – 19:00The Bridge 
LangholmWed28th August15:00 – 19:00Buccleuch Centre 
LockerbieThu29th August15:00 – 19:00Town Hall 
SanquharTue3rd September15:00 – 19:00Community Centre 
GretnaThu5th September15:00 – 19:00Richard Greenhow Centre 
Isle of Whithorn

Mon

9th September

12:00 – 14:00St Ninian’s Hall 
Whithorn15:00 – 19:00New Town Hall
AnnanWed11th September15:30 – 19:30Victoria Hall Complex 
Castle DouglasThu12th September15:00 – 19:00Town Hall 
MoffatMon16th September15:00 – 19:00Town Hall 
DalbeattieTue17th September15:00 – 19:00Town Hall 
ThornhillWed18th September15:00 – 19:00Community Centre 

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

 

We would also appreciate it if you could complete the following equality monitoring form. We want to ensure that the opportunity to share views on community health and social care in Dumfries and Galloway is open to all. The only way we can measure this is to monitor the consultation responses we receive and compare the profile of the people who have completed them. 

Therefore, this form asks you for your ethnic origin, gender, religion, sexuality and age group. The information you provide in this part of the form is for monitoring purposes only and will be separated from the rest of your response when we receive it.

Click on the button below to complete the equality monitoring form.

You can download the consultation documents as a printable PDF at the links below.

Kirkcudbright Cottage Hospital

Moffat Cottage Hospital

Newton Stewart Cottage Hospital

Thornhill Cottage Hospital

You can download a printable copy of the Equality Monitoring form at this link.

Equality Monitoring Form

If you would like an Easy Read version of the consultation document, you can download it here by clicking on the links below:

Kirkcudbright – Easy Read

Moffat – Easy Read

Newton Stewart – Easy Read

Thornhill – Easy Read

The results of each option appraisal are here and you can read them by clicking on the links:

Results from Options Appraisal: Kirkcudbright

Results from Options Appraisal: Moffat

Results from Options Appraisal: Newton Stewart

Results from Options Appraisal: Thornhill

The Right Care, Right Place Information Pack (Document A) contains background information about intermediate care in Dumfries and Galloway, and about the region and its population.

Modelling Future Demand for Health and Social Care in Dumfries and Galloway: Intermediate Care Beds (Document B) describes our forecast of what care will be required in the region in future, and how we calculated it.

The Executive Summary describes the modelling process more briefly.

Right Care, Right Place: Home Teams Information (Document C) provides more information on the region’s Home Teams.

Our Frequently Asked Questions page provides answers to some of the commonest questions about Right Care, Right Place.

And there is a glossary of terms used in this consultation.

If you have difficulty accessing or reading any documents, or if you would like them translated into another language, please let us know by emailing dg.rcrp@nhs.scot or writing to Communications Team, DGRI, A75, Cargenbridge, DG2 8RX.