HEALTH bosses have said a controversial trial to treat patients at home rather than in hospital is going well – despite reservations from local GPs and a patient watchdog.

The enhanced community services scheme is now half-way through a six-month pilot which is due to run until the end of April.

Ryedale Ward at Malton Hospital was closed before Christmas as part of the trial, generating opposition from local GPs and members of the community with more than 1,700 people signing a petition against the closure.

The pilot is part of NHS North Yorkshire and York’s wider plan to reduce the number of unnecessary hospital admissions, enable quicker discharge from hospital and establish better follow up care for people who do require hospital admission.

Janet Probert, managing director of North Yorkshire and York Community and Mental Health Services, said: “Our pilot project has now passed the half-way stage and we are pleased to report that it has been going well so far, particularly when you take into consideration the harsh weather we’ve had.

“Our staff worked very hard to treat patients in the community setting and battled through some atrocious conditions during December. Their sterling efforts meant we did not have to reopen the closed beds in Malton and Whitby hospitals.

“We are now looking forward to evaluating the project.”

The evaluation will be led by Dr Martin Hawkings, a consultant in public health medicine from NHS North Yorkshire and York, with input from Professor Gillian Parker, director of the social policy research unit at the University of York.

Ms Probert said: “The evaluation will take into account feedback from a range of people including GPs, community nursing staff, patients, carers and patient groups.”

NHS North Yorkshire and York has developed an evaluation framework for the pilot which will look at the four key areas:

* patient outcomes

* patient/carer satisfaction and referrer satisfaction

* capacity and demand of the enhanced community team

* and cost effectiveness

It is expected that an update on the enhanced community services pilot scheme will go to the PCT’s board in April.

This update will be shared with all interested parties and the evaluation report will be produced throughout May.

The report will be reviewed by leading GPs across North Yorkshire and York in June and a final decision to adopt the enhanced community services model is expected to be taken by the PCT’s board the following month.

However, health watchdog Ryedale LINk said it would be carrying out its own survey on how successful the home scheme had been.

Chairman Sheila Miller said the group was seeking the views of patients and their families.

She said: “For some people it may have worked all right, but my concern is for those living on their own, especially older people, who may have difficulty in looking after themselves on return from hospital.

“In the past, they were able to go to Ryedale Ward for recuperation. At present, anyone needing on-going hospital care has to go to either York or Scarborough hospitals.”

Malton Town Council has also agreed to write to the Primary Care Trust for York and North Yorkshire and North Yorkshire County Council, saying it wants to see Malton Hospital’s existing services retained and the Ryedale Ward back into use.

Dr Michael Lynch, senior partner at Derwent Surgery, Norton, said they were continuing to work with the public health doctors engaged by the PCT to collect date on which to base the effectiveness of the pilot study.

Dr Lynch said: “All the nurses are working hard within the new system and from the doctors’ point of view, getting patients into Malton Hospital has been predictably difficult due to the halving of in-patient beds.

“The remaining ward has been 100 per cent full right through the trial so far and there has been a sizeable waiting list to come in from the community and from Scarborough and York District Hospitals.”

Dr Lynch added that both hospitals had been on red alert for admissions and elective surgery on both sites had been affected.

“Looking at figures this last two months, my impression is that relatively few patients in this locality have been taken on and that many of these patients have gone on to require hospital admission,” he said.

“In several cases the system has simply delayed the inevitable.”