Health chiefs to axe hospital ward despite public protests

Last month campaigners handed over a letter of protest over fears that the elderly care ward at Wharfedale Hospital, Otley, faced the chop.

The letter from the Support Wharfedale Hospital Campaign urged Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust to ensure that the ward is run by the NHS and continues to serve local people, ideally offering care for elderly patients.

Last night a spokesman for the trust confirmed the decision to shut the ward. He said the closure would be phased in. The ward was facing an uncertain future as the trust needs to save £60m this year.

The co-ordinator of the Support Wharfedale Hospital Campaign, Charlie McEwan, said: “It is a very sad day for Otley, to hear that the only 24-hour ward at Wharfedale Hospital is closing.

“I find it incredibly surprising that no alternative provision can be found. This is a new hospital, with excellent facilities, serving a wide community with diverse needs. There must be lots of services which could utilise the site.”

Greg Mulholland, MP for Leeds North West said: “The closure of the ward places the future of Wharfedale Hospital under the spotlight and the whole community and the hospital support campaign must now work hard to ensure that everything possible is done to prevent the loss of future services at the hospital.”

Wharfedale Hospital opened in 2004 but since then there have been a number of concerns raised about its future.

Just a year after it opened, questions were being asked about whether the Private Finance Initiative-funded building would close, while in 2006 a row broke out when the Leeds hospitals trust closed a ward there.

Yesterday the trust said it remained committed to the hospital but said inpatient care for the elderly could be provided elsewhere in the Trust.

It said there would be no redundancies as staff could be offered work elsewhere.