Lease deal over Ludlow Hospital's future
The immediate future of Ludlow Hospital is on the verge of being secured after it was revealed terms of a new 10-year lease have been agreed.
The deal, which is yet to be signed, would see hospital services remain at the Gravel Hill site until 2023, after which the lease would continue on a rolling basis for as long as the site is needed. A break clause has been inserted into the agreement.
It is a huge boost for health campaigners in the south of the county following the collapse of plans to build a £28 million hospital on the town's Eco-Park 18 months ago.
It has also ended growing uncertainty over the future of healthcare in the area.
The lease will be backdated to when NHS Property Services – known as NHS Property Services – took on ownership of the building in April 2013.
No terms had since been drawn up for the Gravel Hill site and campaigners have claimed that in recent months part of the refurbished Dinham Ward at the hospital had been left unused, fuelling speculation over the hospital's future.
Peter Corfield, chairman of the League of Friends of Ludlow Hospital, said members were on "cloud nine" after being told about the new lease by Jan Ditheridge, chief executive of Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust, at a meeting in the town earlier this week.
But he said people were still waiting for answers over why the new hospital project had collapsed, which he said had added to the subsequent unease over the future of the current hospital at Gravel Hill.
Mr Corfield said: "We were told heads of terms on a new lease for Ludlow Hospital have been agreed. As long as services are being provided and the site is needed the lease will continue to roll on.
"It means that for the foreseeable future we will remain on the site. It is brilliant.
"It is especially encouraging after the collapse of the new hospital project. We are still waiting to hear why that collapsed – we should be told what happened."
