Hospital unit feels close to reopening - bosses

There have been protests since the closure of the inpatient unit in October 2021

Health bosses said they "feel close" to reopening the inpatient unit at a community hospital for the first time in more than two years.

The 16-bed ward at Bishop’s Castle Community Hospital was shut in 2021 because of staff shortages and recruitment issues.

Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust (SCHT) said it now needed to find two more members of staff to safely reopen the unit.

It had previously considered permanently closing the ward but began a recruitment drive after protests by Save Our Beds campaigners.

Further walk-in recruitments events were planned on Saturdays in February and March, said Clair Hobbs from SCHT.

“It’s phenomenal really, we are just three whole-time equivalent registered nurses short of being a full establishment,” she said.

“Having renewed the safer staffing figures and what the rota would look like, we can open after getting two more whole-time equivalent registered nurses in.”

The hospital also has other vacancies, including for a physiotherapist and occupational therapist.

More recruitment events for registered nurses were planned for February and March

The future of the unit and the next steps required will be discussed by SCHT in April.

Chief executive Patricia Davies felt the recruitment drive should continue beyond that date.

"If we’ve got the numbers then we can make a definitive decision in April. But actually we’re that close that we might want to keep that push going," she said.

The trust also had to consider succession planning, she added, as a lot of the people that had been taken on had come out of retirement.

SCHT's acting chair Tina Long thanked the local community “who have pulled out all the stops".

The Save Our Beds campaign and everybody else had "worked wonders" on it, she said.

"We couldn’t have done it on our own. We tried to do it on our own. It has been an amazing collective effort,” Ms Long added.

This news was gathered by the Local Democracy Reporting Service which covers councils and other public service organisations.