New U-turn lifeline for Fairford's beds (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

New U-turn lifeline for Fairford's beds

CAMPAIGNERS fighting to save cottage hospitals in Gloucestershire believe they have been handed a lifeline after a policy about-turn by the Government aimed at providing care for patients closer to their homes.

This week Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt told local health trusts not to close down small hospitals "in response to short-term monetary pressures".

She also said trusts deciding the future of community hospitals should consider new partnership possibilities as alternatives to cutbacks.

Yet in recent months beds at both Fairford and Tetbury Hospitals have been axed by Cotswold and Vale Primary Care Trust in an effort to recoup its £6million debts before the forecasted merger of Gloucestershire's PCTs in the autumn.

And yesterday (February 1) staff at Fairford Hospital were officially told to stop admitting inpatients - despite a 3,700-strong petition opposing the move.

Instead, outpatient facilities are to be expanded at the hospital and inpatients taken on at Cirencester.

Rumours beds at Cirencester are about to close have been categorically denied.

Fairford Hospital League of Friends had offered to finance inpatient care at the facility until a new health care centre is built, which was the preferred option if its 15 beds had to close.

But the PCT declined the offer, although it says it remains committed to seeking private or voluntary sector backing for a new hospital in the town.

Patricia Hewitt's White Paper, however, has sparked a slanging-match between the health trust and those people still fighting to save Fairford's beds.

Both sides accuse the other of manipulating the Government's new agenda to fight their already entrenched stances.

The PCT says its strategy reflects the Government's position, while campaigners claim the Government has effectively slammed the current policy of reform being embraced by countless debt-ridden trusts across the country.

Fairford mayor Chris Roberts said: "Everyone has been asking me whether it's too late for Fairford.

"Patricia Hewitt has made it absolutely clear the PCT should not close services or hospitals on financial grounds.

"I feel that time is slipping away for Fairford. The only thing that is going to save our hospital is for the PCT to have a twinge of conscience. I have also written to Patricia Hewitt asking her to intervene on behalf of our residents."

Conversely, the PCT sees Ms Hewitt's remarks as a vindication of their recent policy towards rural hospitals.

A PCT spokesman said: "These new Government measures include introducing a new generation of community hospitals that will provide diagnostics, minor surgery, outpatient facilities and access to social services in one place, and shifting expenditure from hospitals to care closer to home and on preventative services.

"These are completely in tune with our vision for Cotswold and Vale."

Cotswold MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown confronted Ms Hewitt about the issue in the House of Commons this week.

Aside from the crisis in Fairford and Tetbury, he said both Bourton-on-the-Water and Moreton-in-Marsh are likely to face similar cuts in the near future.

He said: "If the Secretary of State's words are to mean anything, will she consider the situation in my constituency, where two out of four community hospitals have already closed their inpatient facilities and where the other two are in a parlous predicament.

"Whatever the arguments about finance and deficits, that is simply unacceptable. The Government has certainly broken its pledge."

Ms Hewitt has, however, vowed to look again at the situation in the Cotswolds.