Worcester move for Alexandra Hospital gynaecology unit

The hospital trust said about 10 women a week were expected to be affected by the move to Worcester

Redditch's Alexandra Hospital will lose its emergency gynaecology unit at least February 2016, local NHS bosses have said.

The service was moved temporarily to the Worcestershire Royal last week, because of staff shortages, but was due to return on 17 August.

Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust, which runs both sites, said it had struggled to recruit junior doctors.

It said emergency gynaecology could only be safely run at one hospital.

The trust said the move was expected to affect about 10 women a week.

'Lack of planning'

In a joint statement, the hospital trust and local clinical commissioning groups said the body responsible for training doctors had indicated it would not be able to place a number of junior doctors at the Alexandra Hospital.

Neal Stote, of the Save the Alex campaign group, said it "smacked of a lack of planning" and called on the hospital trust to do more to recruit specialist staff.

"It just feels like a permanent closure, pending consultation," he said.

A project is ongoing to look at the future of services across both hospitals.

Suggestions of moving some services from the Alexandra Hospital to Worcester have attracted criticism from campaigners.

The hospital trust, attempting to make £50m savings, has faced a testing time in recent months.

In July, its chief executive Penny Venables resigned on personal grounds.

A month earlier the Care Quality Commission criticised Worcestershire Royal's emergency department.

The trust has also faced claims of a bullying culture, while four A&E consultants resigned from the Alexandra Hospital in February, claiming services had been "undermined". They have since been replaced.