Ward for elderly to close in few weeks (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Ward for elderly to close in few weeks

Staff nurse Lorraine McCallum (17389/1)Health chiefs have stunned nurses, patients and carers by proposing to close a ward for the elderly at Malmesbury Hospital from November.

They are expected to confirm at a meeting tomorrow that the ten-bedded Abbey Ward will close in around four weeks time and patients will have to move to Chippenham or be treated at home.

Members of Kennet and North Wiltshire Health Trust will also consider if the minor injuries unit and inpatient services should be moved before work starts on the new hospital next summer.

Stunned nurses were given the news by inpatient manager David Sharp on Tuesday afternoon.

Staff nurse Lorraine McCallum said: "He first asked a staff nurse to deliver the news and she refused. It is disgusting. We are not supposed to speak to the press and I will get my knuckles wrapped. But it's time we had our feelings expressed."

Mrs McCallum, 52, from Hankerton, who has worked at the hospital for four years, said Mr Sharp told the nursing team that staff shortages were to blame for the closure and this would compromise patient safety.

But she insists there are no staff shortages at the hospital and believes health chiefs are desperately trying to cut costs.

A total of 20 nursing staff at the hospital fear they could lose their jobs if the scheme is rubber stamped at a primary care trust meeting tomorrow at 9am, at St John's Centre, in Trowbridge.

Mrs McCallum said: "The nurses are very worried about their jobs. I feel Chippenham cannot absorb all the staff from Malmesbury. One of the staff does not drive and she is worried about what is going to happen."

Patient care could also suffer if the measures are enforced, according to Mrs McCallum.

She said: " Patients get all-round holistic care here. I do this job because I love it and I have spoken up because I am angry. The primary care trust has created so much uncertainty."

She said trust between nurses and health bosses had now been shattered.

She said staff and patients had expected the ward would move to Chippenham Hospital next July during the construction of a new health unit on the Malmesbury site.

But they are angry it could now close at the start of winter, when many elderly people suffer colds and respiratory diseases.

Dr John Heathcock who runs Tolsey Surgery in Sherston said: "It would be ridiculous to close the ward before winter. There are no staff shortages at the hospital. There is a wonderful team of nurses there."

A spokesman for the Kennet and North Wiltshire Primary Care Trust, stressed no decision had yet been made to close the ward.

Lesley Jupp a library assistant from Pans Lane in Devizes, has witnessed the exemplary care given to her 84-year-old mother Brenda Gallagher, who is suffering from breast cancer, at Malmesbury Hospital.

Ms Jupp said: "My mother has received excellent care in Malmesbury."

Malmesbury mayor Jackie Martin said: "Elderly people do not cope well with change. "

Town councillor John Bowen, who is a member of the project board responsible for providing a new healthcare unit, said it would be disastrous for the local community if the nursing team were disbanded. The hospital's maternity unit has been closed since June because the health trust said there was not enough staff.