A SPECIAL meeting will be held this week looking into the future of hospital services in the county.

A damning report, by Redditch Health Commission based on residents’ views, will be presented to Redditch Council this Thursday.

The 200 page plus report calls for the current plans, which will see a number of vital services moved away from Redditch and centralised in Worcester, to be scrapped and a whole new one looked at.

It also calls for alternative trusts, not just Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust (WAHT), to be given the chance to look at providing services.

It asks the three Worcestershire clinical commissioning groups and WAHT to take into account projected housing growth in Redditch, Bromsgrove and Stratford Districts, the growing population of the town, and numerous transport issues.

It also raises concerns about the new health Sustainability and Transformation Plan.

Redditch Council set up the cross-party health commission at the start of the year to gather residents’ views and feed them directly into a consultation launched by the three clinical commissioning groups.

Borough councillors on the commission, chaired by council Leader Bill Hartnett, invited representatives of relevant health bodies to explain the current plans at a series of meetings.

Under the plans, all three main hospitals, the Alexandra Hospital, Kidderminster Hospital and, Worcestershire Royal Hospital will remain open but will work differently.

The main proposals include the separation of planned and emergency care and moving inpatient children’s care and where women give birth to Worcester.

Most planned operations would take place at Redditch's Alex Hospital and Kidderminster Hospital, which would allow Worcestershire Royal to concentrate on caring for the sickest patients and those who need emergency operations.

By separating planned and emergency care the NHS believes it can reduce waiting times and the number of cancelled operations.

The meeting takes place this Thursday at 7pm at Redditch Town Hall.