Hospital beds could be axed - UPDATE (From Witney Gazette)

Hospital beds could be axed - UPDATE

1:50pm Monday 26th February 2007 in Witney By Victoria Owen

THE top manager in charge of Oxfordshire's community hospitals claims it is 'business as usual' for all nine sites.

Although Penny Astrop, of Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust, has written a report stating that almost two thirds of the units' beds should be closed, she said the hospitals still played a major role within the county's NHS.

Campaigners had reacted with anger to the paper about hospitals in Witney, Chipping Norton, Bicester, Abingdon, Didcot, Henley, Wallingford, Wantage, and Oxford, which cited a survey showing that only 36 per cent of inpatients needed care on their wards.

But in a PCT board meeting on Thursday, Ms Astrop explained the report was just a stock take, to highlight services before further work was done.

She said: "They are just buildings that provide a range of much-valued services. These services have grown up over time, and that's led to real inequities across the county.

"There's a kind of acceptance that because we have community hospitals, it's appropriate to put people in them.

"Our survey showed that 12 per cent of inpatients were admitted when it was known they needed long-term care. I think that's a big issue, because we're using NHS services inappropriately.

"There are many other services that are provided, and we know there's going to be an increasing need for services outside hospitals, so we have to start from that premise. But as far as I'm concerned at the moment it's business as usual."

Ms Astrop explained alternative ways of caring for patients, such as in their own homes, were often more appropriate for their needs, and could help them get better quicker.

She added: "We're investing more into intermediate care and, in addition to that, social services are looking at ways to improve home support. I'm not saying I think it's enough. I just think we're going in the right direction."

Despite her reassurances about the immediate future of community hospitals, Dr Stephen Richards, chairman of the PCT's clinical executive committee, said he wanted to see service changes as soon as possible.

The GP, who works at Goring and Woodcote Surgery, said: "We're wasting resources and spending money inappropriately. We need to move forward, and I urge you to do that.

"I have seen patients inappropriately placed in community hospitals for years."