'No secret plan' to close Ludlow Hospital
There is no "secret plan" to close Ludlow Hospital despite proposals to shut one of its two wards, health chiefs have said.
Dr Caron Morton, of Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group, assured Ludlow councillors Andy Boddington and Tracey Huffer that she "could not see a future without Ludlow Hospital" during talks held yesterday.
It comes amid mounting anger over plans to close the Stretton ward at the hospital in Gravel Hill with effect from tomorrow. The ward will be merged with the downstairs Dinham ward at the hospital and Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust has said no beds will be lost.
But campaigners fear it could spark the beginning of the end for the hospital and more than 2,300 people have signed a petition opposing the plan.
Doctors and campaigners in the town were today making their point at a meeting of the health trust's board in Bridgnorth, while a public meeting will be held at Ludlow's Wesleyan Methodist Church in Broad Street tonight.
Councillor Boddington, Shropshire councillor for who represents Ludlow North on Shropshire Council, Cllr Boddington said yesterday's talks had not changed his view that incremental cutting back at the hospital made it less likely to attract more services such as an urgent care centre, and vulnerable to being closed altogether.
He said: "What we did accept is that there is no secret plan to close Ludlow Hospital.
"But we emphasised the point that, because they're constantly cutting down, Ludlow Hospital is becoming less sustainable.
"It will get to the point where people just think 'there's nothing much going on there'."
"But Dr Morton did say she cannot see a future without Ludlow Hospital," he said.
