North Staffs Greens back pensioners fight against community bed closures.

North Staffs Green Party have given their support to a campaign led by the North Staffs Pensioners Convention to mount a legal challenge to plans to close beds in local community hospitals.

As part of its transformation plans the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for Staffordshire wants to reduce the number of beds at community hospitals across the region from 264 to 132.

Amongst the reasons cited by the CCG for overhauling how health and social care is delivered are changing health needs as people live longer, difficulty hiring and retaining staff and balancing its budget.

As part of the proposed new care model the CCG wants to deliver care services in the community that currently operate from hospitals through integrated care hubs across the region.

This will mean fewer beds are needed in community hospitals including those at Leek, Bradwell and the Heywood. Instead more patients will be cared for in their own homes.

There will also be an overhaul of consultant led out-patient clinics currently operating from Leek hospital and the Royal Staffordshire University Hospital.

The CCG is partway through a public consultation on its plans, this will run until 17th March.

The Pensioners Convention are part of the NHS Care for All group which brings together the campaigns to protect Leek and Bradwell hospitals, local political campaigners and other community organisations.

North Staffs Green Party Campaigns Coordinator Adam Colclough said, ‘it is vital that we protect beds at community hospitals because they provide a valuable resource in times of high demand and the staff at the sites affected deliver high quality care all year round’.

He added that ‘as a party we have questioned whether there will be enough staff available to care for patients in their own homes and have not received a convincing guarantee from the CCG leadership’.

A solicitor instructed by the Pensioners Convention has written to the CCG informing them of their intention to seek a judicial review. The group have launched a crowd funding campaign to raise the £4300 necessary to begin proceedings.