Cheshire children's hospital at home service saved

Medical staff from Countess of Chester Hospital travel to patients' homes to administer treatment

An under-threat service that allows sick children in west Cheshire to be treated at home has been saved.

A review of the Countess of Chester's 'Children's Hospital at Home' service was due at the end of June.

The NHS West Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group and the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said the service would now continue.

The campaign group Save Our Hospital at Home said it was "delighted" but had concerns over staffing.

"Whilst we are delighted with the assurances that the paediatric hospital at home service will be continued... we do still have concerns about how this will work operationally now that over half of the original team have been redeployed elsewhere within paediatrics."

The service sees medical staff travelling to patients' homes to administer treatment and help with long term care.

In April, NHS commissioners announced the service would be discontinued because planned savings due to be achieved by the scheme had "not been realised".

A petition against axing the service was signed by more than 5,000 people and it was given a two-month reprieve by the NHS West Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) until the end of June.

The CCG needs to save £11.5m from its budget by April 2017, after registering overspends over the last financial year.