Children's ward to 'temporarily' close at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch

No children will be treated overnight at the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch as the paediatric department closes temporarily from tonight.

Patients will be transferring to Worcestershire Royal Hospital as the Trust says it just doesn't have the staff to ensure patient safety.

Blog written by Stacey Foster, Health Correspondent:

Last month the Worcestershire Acute NHS Trust announced that it didn't have enough peadiatricians or specialist doctors to keep inpatient paediatric services across its two main hospitals.

The decision was made, on the grounds of safety, to close the children's ward "temporarily" at The Alexandra Hospital in Redditch.

By tonight, all patients and staff will have been transferred 18 miles away to The Worcestershire Royal with Ward 1 at the hospital closed.

For many children across Bromsgrove and Redditch there won't be any change. They will receive outpatient care at The Alex and go home on the same day.

Children can also be taken to the minor injuries unit at the Princess of Wales Community Hospital in Bromsgrove.

The hospital says there is an increased number of ambulances available during these changes.

If children are taken to The Alexandra Hospital in Redditch and require admission to hospital they will be transferred to stay overnight at The Worcestershire Royal.

The A&E department at The Alex will still continue to treat children who don't require admission to hospital.

It's a little under a year since I was reporting on a similar movement of services from Redditch to Worcester.

In November 2015, the hospital trust said there were not enough specialist neo-natal nurses to look after the most critical babies in Redditch and so all births should be moved to Worcester - temporarily.

A year on, no babies are being born at The Alexandra Hospital. Parents and campaigners that I have spoken now fear the same fate awaits the children's ward at the Alex.