Hospital ward closure is 'wrong' - staff member

The Hoskyn Ward, at the Hospital of St Cross in Rugby, will close in December

The decision to close a hospital ward should be reversed, a member of the hospital's staff has said.

The Hoskyn Ward, at the Hospital of St Cross in Rugby, will shut under new plans by University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire (UHCW) NHS Trust, which runs the centre.

The staff member, who asked to remain anonymous due to fear of repercussions, said the decision was "very wrong".

The trust's chief executive, Prof Andy Hardy, said the closure was due to a "significant reduction" of transfers to the hospital.

The ward, which specialises in geriatric patients, will close on 4 December.

The staff member said those behind the decision were "completely wrong" and "did not consider" the staff that work there.

"I'm not happy about it," she said.

"Some staff will have to be moved to other wards and some will be sent to Coventry and that is very wrong.

"They are not considering the residents and everybody's angry.

"If the reasoning was a lack of care then yes. But it's not - it's a very perfect ward."

Prof Andy Hardy said the closure would not mean fewer beds for local patients

Martin Peirce, a dialysis patient at the hospital, said he was reserving his opinion until he knew how the hospital would be developed in the future.

"Rugby is such a growing town that it needs more hospital facilities rather than less," he said.

"People are a bit shell shocked I think - but until we know what they're going to do with that space and how they're going to to make use of it, it's difficult to react."

Speaking following the announcement on Wednesday, Mr Hardy said the trust's new "Improving Lives" pathway was driving the move.

The scheme aims to avoid the need for Coventry-based patients to transfer to Rugby while they wait for care in the community.

A review had shown that the trust no longer needed the current number of inpatient medical beds in Rugby, he said.

"The closure is actually the result of fabulous work in Coventry.

"So actually this is a positive news story.

"This is about about the fact that patients don't need to be in hospitals, we can look after them in their own homes."

Prof Hardy said there would be no job losses as a consequence of the move, but could not guarantee staff members would not have to move to different locations.