Wiltshire NHS Trust admits half our beds will go

5.28.00pm GMT Tue 30th Jan 2007

Wiltshire's health bosses admitted publicly for the first time today that their re-organisation of community health services will see as many as half our community beds go. Questioned by Cllr Duncan Hames, Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate for the Chippenham constituency, at their board meeting in Devizes, the PCT's Director of Partnerships and Planning revealed that at least 80 of the current 163 community beds would cease to operate:

"We have been told how many beds there will be in future. Which of you know how many beds in total will be closed by this decision today? How many is it? You won't find it in your papers or presentations. I think we should be told." demanded Duncan Hames of the PCT Board.

Speaking after the PCT Board's decision to close local hospitals, Cllr Hames said:

Cllr Duncan Hames supporting local community hospitals this month

"It is astonishing that in all the reams of paper the PCT have produced in recent months, they have never before revealed just how many beds in total will be lost across the county. I'm glad that everyone here today got the answer before the board members made their decision. With half our community beds going, is it any wonder that so many people are opposed to these cuts?"

Asked where the campaign to save our community hospitals goes from here, Duncan Hames added:

"I am in no doubt that the County Council's Health Scrutiny Committee should use their powers to 'call-in' this decision and refer it to the Secretary of State for Health. If nothing else it will make clear to her just how dependent Wiltshire's Health Service is on the bid they have submitted to the Department of Health for capital funding to re-develop the surviving hospitals."

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