The Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation is inviting feedback on its plan to move rheumatology and therapies services from the Mineral Water Hospital, known locally as the ‘Min’ to a purpose built RNHRD and Therapies Centre on the RUH’s Combe Park site.

Although these services will not move until 2018, the Trust is keen to gather

feedback now, as plans for the new centre start to take shape.

Dr Raj Sengupta, Consultant Rheumatologist and lead for the Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) service, explains: “Patients who use these services will continue to be seen and treated by the same teams, only the location will change. We’re all fond of the Mineral

Hospital building, but we’ve known for some time that to ensure the future of the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases (RNHRD) and its highly regarded services, we need to move out of the Min.

“We’re really excited about what the future holds; patients and clinicians have been closely involved in the design of the new centre, which forms part of the RUH’s estates redevelopment programme.”

The purpose-built centre will include a hydrotherapy pool, a state-of-the-art gym, group rooms and improved waiting facilities. Many of those using the RNHRD’s rheumatology and therapies services have long-term conditions, so supporting

patients to help manage their own condition will continue to be a focus in the new centre.

Julie Russell, Rheumatology Physiotherapy Clinical Specialist and Service Lead, said: “As well as the RNHRD’s Rheumatology and Therapies services, the centre will be the new home of the RUH’s therapies services.

“We’re bringing the teams together under one roof, to deliver a holistic and patient centred approach to care. It’s about strengthening the RNHRD’s specialist services; it’s about making the patient experience the best it can be.

“At the moment, patients may need to go back and forth between the RUH and RNHRD for their care – the RNHRD and Therapies Centre means we’ll have

fantastic new facilities all on one site.”

The RNHRD’s Clinical Measurement service provides bone mineral densitometry (DEXA scanning) and specialist imaging and measurement services and it is closely linked with the rheumatology and therapies services provided at the Min site, so will relocate at the same time to the RUH’s Nuclear Medicine Department before a final move to the RUH’s Dyson Cancer Centre, due to open in 2020 and will be in close proximity to the RNHRD services.

Inpatient beds and residential accommodation will also still be made available at Combe Park for those who require these services.

The Trust is seeking views from patients, carers, healthcare partners and anyone who has an interest in the RNHRD’s rheumatology and therapies services to help their planning, to ensure that they continue to provide the best services for current and future patients.

More information and a feedback survey is available online: www.ruh.nhs.uk

/about/service_relocations

Comments are welcomed via email at: [email protected]

The Foundation says that moving these services is part of a careful and phased

approach to relocating all RNHRD services over a three year period from the Mineral Hospital site to the RUH or appropriate community-based settings, to

maximise patient benefit.

Feedback on these plans is welcome at any time and more information is available at: www.ruh.nhs.uk