Liberal Democrat Councillors in South West Shropshire are calling for the re-opening of Bishop’s Castle Community hospital to help ease the NHS crisis and bed pressures in Shropshire.
Councillor Ruth Houghton said: “The crisis in the NHS continues with ambulances queueing outside A and E departments, long ambulance response times to 999 calls and acute hospital beds occupied by patients who are deemed medically fit for discharge but who are unable to leave due to a lack of care home beds or domiciliary care to support them at home. This is at a time when here in Bishop’s Castle we have a hospital which has been standing empty for over 12 months with little sign of any progress on how it may be used in the future.”
The community hospital in Bishop’s Castle closed unexpectedly without any public consultation in November 2021, and despite local councillors meeting with Shropshire NHS leaders there is still no clear plan to re-open the hospital or for alternative uses of the site.
Councillor Heather Kidd, Liberal Democrat health spokesperson said: “We hear in the national news that the Government are seeking hotel beds to help ease the demand on NHS beds, but why do this when an empty and equipped hospital is available. We know that the NHS will say that they can’t recruit staff for the hospital but how will hotel beds be staffed?”
The Liberal Democrats suggest that some of the recent funding promised by central Government is used to offer a higher nurse pay grade at Bishop’s Castle to help attract staff, that the hospital is used as a diagnostic centre which would alleviate pressures in Shrewsbury and Telford and save a lot of travel time to Shrewsbury or Telford for local residents and that the 12 beds are reopened to support hospital discharges whilst longer-term care arrangements are made.
Additionally more outpatient services including podiatry, diabetic eye screening, audiology services, physiotherapy services, cancer screening services and a mobile MRI clinic could also be provided from the community hospital to both address waiting lists and provide a local service in Southwest Shropshire.
Councillor Ruth Houghton concluded: “It is an appalling waste of a medical facility, to have it standing empty whilst the NHS is in crisis with people dying due to a lack of acute hospital beds or because an ambulance can’t reach them in time to save their life.”
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