RJAH to relocate specialist outreach service
A specialist outreach service run by The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital is set to be relocated.
A specialist outreach service run by The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital is set to be relocated.
The Shropshire Orthopaedic Outreach Service (SOOS) – which offers assessment and management of musculoskeletal health problems for patients who do not require hospital treatment – will temporarily be transferring all clinics currently run in Shrewsbury into the Oswestry-based hospital from Monday 24 October.
It comes after clinics previously run from Burlington Place in Belle Vue, Shrewsbury, were moved into local GP practices earlier in the summer due to the deteriorating condition of the demountable building from which they ran.
But availability of rooms has not been reliable since then, and patients have been frustrated by constant changes to clinic locations at short notice.
Lorraine Lewis, Therapy Service Manager at RJAH, said: “We are delighted to be able to announce this change as it will represent a significant improvement in the quality of the service we can offer.
“Our SOOS team are dedicated and hard-working, but were hampered by a building that was not really fit for purpose and has made their working conditions extremely challenging.
“They told us that they could not carry on in the way they were, and we have listened to those concerns.
“We are working on options to offer Shrewsbury-based clinics again in the near future, but in the meantime this change gives us a solution that is better for our staff and, importantly, enables us to offer a better patient experience.”
The SOOS clinics moving from Shrewsbury will temporarily be based in The Menzies Unit building on the hospital site.
They will stay there until the end of December, when they will relocate into the old Admission on Day Of Surgery Unit (ADOS). That space is available after ADOS became part of the Baschurch Day Unit in the hospital’s new £15.1 million Theatre and Ward Development.
Meanwhile, discussions are taking place to try and establish permanent locations in Shrewsbury. SOOS clinics currently run at Oswestry Health Centre are continuing unchanged.
“We know that many patients found it convenient to have the option of attending a clinic in Shrewsbury,” said Lorraine.
“It is something we are actively looking at, and we hope to be in a position to announce something over the next few weeks.”
