A TOP doctor has admitted the NHS could have done a better job in explaining the ‘confusing’ Healthier Together proposals.

But Dr Wirin Bhatiani, the chairman of Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), insists that people have understood that the massive shake-up of healthcare will not mean the loss of services for Bolton residents.

The plans, which represent the biggest change in NHS services since the 1940s, will see specialist hospitals created across Greater Manchester.

The Royal Bolton has been shortlisted alongside Wigan, Stockport and Wythenshawe to become a ‘super hospital’, which could spell more investment in maternity, children and obstetrics services as well as the A&E department.

If not successful, it will rebranded as a ‘general hospital’, meaning patients in need of high-risk surgery in some departments will be treated elsewhere.

There will also be more investment in primary and community care, to try and reduce the number of people being hospitalised.

Dr Bhatiani said if the Royal Bolton becomes a general hospital it does not mean it has been downgraded.

He said: “Healthier Together is a difficult message, and I think we could have explained it better – and we still need to explain it better.

“But I think that people understand that it is not about cutting services — I think that message has got through.

“I think we haven’t described what a local, general hospital would be like, and I think there has been some confusion that all the effort is going to be in improving the specialist centre.

“Actually, the general hospitals are also going to be improved, and that has not been properly explained.”

He added: “The main issue facing is that there are not enough specialists to provide the appropriate cover that we want in all of our hospitals.

“So the solution has to be based on sharing the scarce resources that we have.

“It is also about improving standards across the health scene — we must get our care in the community up to scratch, and we must get our GPs in the right place.

“All the CCGs across Greater Manchester are working hard to find ways of increasing resources in general practice.”

Under the new plans, every general hospital will have an A&E department, with ‘only the very sickest patients’ going to a specialist hospital, according to the Healthier Together website.

General surgery operations for adults will still be carried out, with high-risk surgery provided at one of the ‘super hospitals’.

Every specialist hospital will partner with one or two general hospitals to provide high quality care, and there will be one team of doctors and nurses working across the sites – with patients moving between so they can receive the most appropriate care.

The consultation on Healthier Together has now finished, with an update on the proposals expected in the New Year.

For more information visit www.healthiertogethergm.nhs.uk.