Public reassured over reopening of Bishop's Castle Community Hospital
Health bosses have told concerned members of the public that Bishop's Castle Community Hospital is on target to reopen.
The 16-bed hospital will reopen next month following its sudden closure in July for a refurbishment.
At a meeting in the town the public were addressed by Shropshire Community Health Trust bosses who gave assurances about the facility's future.
They were told that since the closure, nurses, therapists and health support workers have been taking part in a trial scheme to provide “enhanced healthcare” to support patients.
The aim was to prevent patients having to go the county’s major hospitals at Shrewsbury and Telford for treatment.
Under the project, some patients may be able to leave acute hospitals earlier because of the extra local-based support from GPs and the nursing team.
Theresa Smith, the sister in charge and leader of the Home First Team said that patients living in the Bishop's Castle and Clun area had been offered a high level of nursing care at home under the new scheme.
Sister Smith said she felt the scheme had been overwhelmingly positive and she was beginning to think about the best way to evaluate the project.
Mel Duffy, director of strategy for the trust said she hoped to see the building open again in about four weeks time and added that a new boiler and filtration unit was on order and work was going well.
Grenville Jackson, a committee member of Bishop's Castle Patient's Group said there should be a proper evaluation of the pilot scheme and said the Bishop's Castle Patients' Group had already begun to collect responses from nurses, patients and their families.
Bishop's Castle GP Paul Gardner said he was very impressed with the way hospital staff had risen to the challenge of the new scheme and thanked the community health trust for their support, adding that meeting hospital staff every day at the medical practice had meant there were fewer delays in making decisions about patient care.
In reply to comments from members of the public in the hall who questioned the long-term motives of the trust and whether repair work was being done at the hospital, chief executive of the trust Jan Ditheridge said: “The hospital is on course to reopen and we need to improve the way we manage our staff rotas and recruit more permanent staff."
