HEALTHY PEOPLE HEALTHY LIVES HEALTHY COMMUNITIES
Making it Better involves lots of investment and changes to NHS services for children, young people, babies and families across Greater Manchester.
These changes will benefit local people and health staff in Oldham.
Under the Making it Better changes, services for families, children, young people and babies will continue to be provided at Royal Oldham Hospital. In addition, there will be:
• New and expanded units for children’s, maternity and neonatal services at the Royal Oldham Hospital.
• The Royal Oldham Hospital will also provide one of the three regional neonatal intensive care services in Greater Manchester. When the service is established the Royal Oldham Hospital, along with Royal Bolton and Saint Mary’s Hospitals, will provide a service to the smallest and most vulnerable babies in its very specialist unit. Specialist maternity services will also be developed at the hospital to care for women with more complicated pregnancies.
Much progress is being made to work towards the new services. With services not moving until late 2011, there is time to get the right staff in post and the new buildings up and running.
Progress to date includes:
• Construction is underway on the new £44 million unit for children’s, maternity and neonatal services at the Royal Oldham Hospital. The new unit is expected to be completed by winter 2012.
• Across Greater Manchester, over £1 million has been invested in extra children’s community nurses. Oldham has a team of experienced children’s nurses, based within the community, who work with families to look after children at home, rather than in hospital.
• The expansion of the neonatal service has begunwith, which includes the recruitment of additional neonatal nurses across Greater Manchester. The Royal Oldham Hospital has benefited from extra neonatal nurses and extra neonatal consultant medical staff.
• A 24 hour on-call service has been introduced to ensure that, in an emergency, children with mental health problems are assessed by a specialist mental health practitioner.
You can find out on the Making it Better website, which is available at www.makingitbetter.nhs.uk
Alternatively you can read one of the update newsletters below, which look at developments since 2008.
Making it Better update: spring/summer 2011
Making it Better update: winter 2010/11
Making it Better update: Spring / Summer 2010
Making it Better update: Winter 2009/10
Making it Better update: Autumn / winter 2009
Making it Better update: Summer 2009
Making it Better update: Spring 2009
Making it Better update: December 2008 - January 2009
Making it Better update: November 2008