Rothbury Hospital consultation planned for January

Tyne Tees
Rothbury
Health
Thursday 22 December 2016 at 10:15am

The consultation is expected to begin in January

A public consultation on the future of the inpatient ward at Rothbury Community Hospital should start in late January, it has been confirmed.

A temporary closure was announced in September because beds were not used enough, said healthcare officials.

Figures showed that over the previous year, average occupancy of the ward was around 50%, with bed usage dropping as low as 35% in July 2016.

Hospital bosses say the beds aren't used as much because more care is now being delivered outside the hospital.

NHS Northumberland Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) held a public meeting on 17 November about its formal review. The consultation follows this meeting.

It is hoped the three-month consultation period will start in late January. This will include public meetings as well as online and printed surveys.

"As healthcare leaders, we have a duty to deliver not just the best quality of care but also to make the best use of the funding we have for NHS services in Northumberland,” added Dr Blair. “It is clear that people value the care they have received at Rothbury, and the compassion and high standards of the staff, very highly. With only around half of the beds used over the past year, we have to balance these factors against the need to ensure that our nursing staff can use their skills to help as many patients as possible. “Inpatient activity at Rothbury has declined over recent years, because more care is being delivered outside of hospital, in a way that wasn’t possible in the past. “We very much understand the concerns that people have raised, and it is important that we now take time to consider them fully before putting forward proposals for the future. We are continuing to monitor the situation closely in the meantime.”