Nursing crisis sees hospital forced to shut ward
Another community hospital in the region has announced a nursing crisis leading to closure of its inpatients' ward within weeks.
Following hot on the heels of the merger of two wards at Ludlow Hospital, now Bromyard Hospital across the border in Herefordshire has run into similar problems.
Similarly to Ludlow Hospital an emergency public meeting was held by angry residents.
Wye Valley NHS Trust, which runs the hospital in the small town near Leominster on the Shropshire border with Herefordshire, says it was forced into the move by a shortage of nurses, but insists it is a temporary measure.
The closure of the ward is to take place "no later" than September 11.
Alan Seldon, Herefordshire county councillor for Bromyard, who called the meeting, said: "We're not sure exactly what the situation is, but it does seem to me to be almost a panic decision.
"It's extremely worrying. We know that the hospital has been reliant on agency staff for some time and of course that raises the cost, but you wonder if it is a safety issue or just a cost-cutting exercise. I am disturbed to hear something similar has happened with another trust at Ludlow because it seems there is an underlying issue here.
"There has been a hospital in Bromyard since the 18th century when the town was a quarter of the size, so why we have this crisis now I will be very interested to find out."
Health bosses at the Wye Valley NHS Trust have vowed to revisit the decision in three months' time and say they will reopen the ward as soon as possible if staff levels pick up.
Trust chief executive Richard Beeken said: "This is not a position we would want to find ourselves in. However, it is symptomatic of the staff shortage faced by NHS Trusts right across the country.
"All NHS Trusts are trying to recruit out of the same small pool of nurses – this is a national issue," he said.
"The impact on local people will be minimal, as the 14-bedded inpatients ward is used predominantly for step-down care for patients following acute admission at Hereford County Hospital."
