Following consultation, a decision to change the way some children’s surgery and anaesthesia services are provided across South and Mid Yorkshire, Bassetlaw and North Derbyshire was made yesterday (Wednesday 28 June).  

The decision, which was made by the joint committee of clinical commissioning groups, comes after three years of working together with our clinical commissioning and hospital colleagues in Barnsley, Bassetlaw, Chesterfield, Doncaster, Rotherham, Sheffield and Wakefield to review and improve the care and experiences of all children needing an emergency operation in our region.

It means that around one or two children per week needing an emergency operation at night or at a weekend, for very specific conditions, eg appendicitis or torsion of the testes, will no longer have their surgery in Barnsley, Chesterfield or Rotherham Hospitals. They will instead be treated at Doncaster Royal Infirmary, Sheffield Children’s Hospital or Pinderfield’s Hospital if they need their operation out of hours.

By working together better, we’ve developed new ways of working which means the number of children affected by these changes has significantly reduced since the launch of the consultation with most children’s surgery still taking place in all local hospitals, most of the time.

Our doctors have also helped to develop a ‘managed clinical network’ approach where, as a partnership, we will be able to provide a 24 hour, seven day a week emergency service for all children across South and Mid Yorkshire, Bassetlaw and North Derbyshire.

For us in Barnsley, this means that 35 children a year needing an emergency, out of hours operation will be taken directly by ambulance to whichever of the three specialist hubs is closest and most appropriate for their needs.

Changes are due to take place from January 2018 onwards. For further information on the changes click here.