Quorn Medical Centre
1 Station Road, Quorn, Leicestershire, LE12 8BP
Tel 08443 879 879 – Fax 08443 879 870
17th September 2013
FAO:Dr. Nick Pulman - Chair
West Leicestershire Clinical Commissioning Group
55 Woodgate
Loughborough
Leics. LE11 2TZ
Dear Dr Pulman
RE:LoughboroughHospital – Proposed Closure of Charnwood Ward
On behalf of the patients we represent, the Quorn Medical Centre PPG (Patient Participation Group), wishes to register a serious concern and objection to the proposed closure of the Charnwood Ward at Loughborough GeneralHospital. The proposed closure has been reported widely and the general consensus of opinion is that this will not benefit NHS patients in Loughborough and the surrounding villages, but will only serve to put an additional burden on patients and their concerned relatives.
Loughborough is the largest borough, by population, in Leicestershire and will continue to have an increasing population for the foreseeable future. In the past the Loughborough hospital has adapted to the growing population and is now one of, if not the largest, community hospitals in the county. The proposal to reduce capacity by halving the number of beds seems to fly in the face of logic! If we are to believe reports that the country faces an increasingly ageing population, the burden on the NHS, if anything, requires an increase in community hospital capacity to accommodate the needs of additional older patients , not the reverse.
Placing patients in hospitals miles away from their homes is not going to help their equally ageing relatives trying to visit them. Residents of Loughborough do not wish to go to hospital in Hinckley, Coalville or the Evington Centre at the GeneralHospital in Leicester for rehabilitation and recovery after a stay in a city acute hospital, when there is a perfectly adequate and conveniently placed community hospital on their doorstep. It is a well known fact that sending elderly and disabled patients to “far flung” community hospitals or other institutions, without easy access to relatives and friends hampers their recovery.
The experience of members of this PPG who have been patients themselves or have relatives or friends who were patients in LoughboroughHospital has been that their treatment during their time spent there was first class.
“Virtual wards” are only suitable in certain cases, but patients with more complex needs will continue to require hospitalisation and rehabilitation close to home. We think it is important for local beds to be available so that people who are ready to be discharged from acute hospital care do not have to stay because of lack of 'step down' beds in their community.
Again, this PPG on behalf of the patients of Quorn Medical Centre, urge the WLCCG to reconsider their decision to close Charnwood Ward at Loughborough GeneralHospital.
Yours sincerely
Liz Wells (Mrs)
Practice Manager & Acting PPG Chair
c.c.Ms. Beverly Gillman
Healthwatch
Leicestershire
9 Newarke Street
Leicester. LE1 5SN
Dr C R Barlow GMC 2837114 / Dr M F Frost GMC 3055508Dr M Cluley GMC 4696850 / Dr K Langford GMC 4437891
Dr G Hardy GMC 6145735 / Dr A Bharkhada GMC 7014510