At 0830 on Tuesday 28th March West Wiltshire PCT announced that on Sunday 6th March the in patients services at Westbury hospital would transfer to other hospitals in West Wiltshire. The staff were given less than 24 hours notice of the meeting and were visibly distressed and shocked at the short notice of this decision.Little time was allowed for questions as the room booked by the PCT to announce this shocking news was needed for a clinic at 0930 that day.
Senior staff stated that "this was an exiting time for new services to be developed" and the arrogance of such a statement was challenged by the League of Friends. Many of the staff at the hopsital will now not have a job and others will be expected to travel to other hospitals so hardly an exiting time for them.
Terminally ill patients are planned to be transferred to unfamiliar hospitals which seems unbelievably cruel for both them and their families.
The PCT have said that staff shortages have forced them to close but as they have had a freeze on recruitment they surely must have been aware that staff shortages would arise and if they had planned with proper care then this closure by stealth at such short notice need never have happened.
Wesbury are very lucky in having a huge amount of support from the community,from our MP Andrew Murrison and from CHANT.
We have no plans to give up our campaign to reopen this excellent facility and retain healthcare locally for Westbury