Ward to be closed at hospital after failure to recruit staff

Scarborough and North East Yorkshire Healthcare NHS Trust has been carrying out a review at Bridlington Hospital, and says it has been unable to recruit enough registered staff.

The trust will be closing 24-bed Thornton and Kent ward at the end of the month. Patients from Kent ward will transfer to the newly-refurbished Johnson ward.

The move means fewer people with medical conditions like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and stroke patients being treated at Bridlington. Instead they will have to go to Scarborough, York, or Hull.

Mick Pilling, who helped to organise a protest march of 8,000 residents in 2007 against cutbacks at the hospital, said Bridlington was being treated as the poor relation to Scarborough Hospital.

"It is just an absolute and utter shame that Bridlington has been treated like this since that trust took over. The people of this town can't understand why a hospital of only 20 years old should suffer in this way when it is completely modern compared to a lot of other places."

East Yorkshire Tory MP Greg Knight said he would meet Health Secretary Andrew Lansley for talks within weeks.

"As if these problems are not bad enough, for two and a half years Yorkshire Ambulance Service has been branded as weak," he added.

"My constituents are not only being denied the services that should be available in Bridlington Hospital, they have to be taken there by one of the worst hospital ambulance services in the country so we have very real concerns that lives could be put at risk by this misguided policy."

The trust insisted that the move was nothing to do with saving money and said the real problem was no one wanted to work in Bridlington.

The "handful" of staff affected would be offered alternative work at the hospital or transfer to Scarborough.

The Lloyd ward, currently a surgical day case ward, will remain open as will the Waters medical ward.

In a statement it said: "Despite extensive efforts to recruit registered nursing staff to wards at Bridlington and Scarborough the Trust has been unable to recruit sufficient registered nurses to work at Bridlington Hospital. This has put tremendous pressure on the remaining nursing staff to ensure that there is adequate cover.

"In the interests of patient safety a decision has been made to temporarily reduce the number of inpatient beds at the hospital."

Teresa Fenech, who is the Director of Nursing and Deputy Chief Executive, said: "We are committed to increasing other patient activity at Bridlington Hospital.

"We will be continuing to increase outpatient, diagnostics and day care facilities and will be increasing the number of patients being treated in the theatres at Bridlington Hospital as day cases from September 1 with the addition of a number of theatre sessions for pain and orthopaedics in particular.

"We are also still working to open Lloyd Ward as a short stay, overnight ward early next year.

"We are meeting with staff affected by these changes this week and will be working with them to agree any changes to their working pattern.

"No staff will be made redundant."

In recent years maternity as well as the cardiac monitoring unit and acute medical services have been removed from the hospital.