Rural Shropshire in Revolt? Campaigners call for a guaranteed future for community hospitals

It comes as a letter has been written to leaders at Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin ICB and ShropCom, detailing the need and desire for a 'Rural Strategy' to protect NHS services in rural communities.

So far, the letter has been signed by 104 people, including two GPs, as well as the mayors of four towns, many councillors and a number of local people.

There are two campaigns taking place in Shropshire at the moment against local NHS cuts to services – 'Save Bishop's Castle Community Hospital beds' and 'Shropshire Defend our NHS'.

The first was set up to oppose the potential permanent closure of 16 beds at Bishop’s Castle Community Hospital, which closed in October 2021 due to problems with staff recruitment.

Campaigners were out in force at the weekend, petitioning and leafleting in Bishop’s Castle to save the beds and give their hospital a more secure future.

Councillor Darren Childs went across on Sunday along with three others from Ludlow and said: "A few of us came across from Ludlow to help out with this brilliant campaign.

"I’m so glad I did, because I came away inspired. People were practically grabbing the petitions out of our hands, they were that desperate to sign. There’s real anger. People have had enough. I don’t think health bosses understand the fight they’ve taken on here."

Campaigners say the loss of beds at Bishop’s Castle Community Hospital comes in a wider context: the year-on-year cuts to rural healthcare.

They used the examples of the three rural midwife-led units which were closed in 2018, as well as mental health crisis support, audiology and dementia services. They also say that seven community ambulance stations have gone since 2018.

Campaigners have also alleged that patients are being discharged from Hereford Hospital – who are too unwell to go home – and being sent to Ludlow Travelodge because there’s nowhere else for them to go.

Gill George, chair of Shropshire Defend Our NHS said: "That dumping patients in budget hotels – it’s incredibly unsafe. It’s got to stop. The ambulance response times are costing lives – and it’s just being normalised now. It’s very, very frightening.

"But there’s something else as well. Health bosses think they can centralise all their services in Shrewsbury or Telford, and three-quarters of Shropshire’s population will travel to get there.

"It might be unaffordable, people might be too ill to travel, in areas with no public transport, it’s sometimes just not physically possible for people who don’t drive to get to appointments.

"We need rural health care that’s fit for purpose. Surely a life in Whitchurch or Bishops Castle or Cleobury has the exact same value as a life in Shrewsbury or Telford? Why don’t local NHS leaders understand this?"

"In Defend Our NHS we’ve launched a new initiative: ‘Defend Rural Health Care’. Our first step is to write to the Chief Executives of Shropshire Community Trust and Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Integrated Care Board calling for real change. After that? Well, we’ll see what their response is and take it from there."

Darren Childs added: "People in rural Shropshire are losing confidence in NHS leaders, particularly the bosses at the Community Trust.

"We want the attack on Bishop’s Castle Hospital stopped – and we want a guaranteed future for all our community hospitals.

"We want more than that. It’s time for ALL health leaders in Shropshire to notice that rural communities exist – and to work with us on a strategy for rural health care. Come on, guys. It’s not rocket science."

Responding to the campaign Simon Whitehouse, Chief Executive for NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, said community hospitals are 'front and central' to plans to deliver more care locally – but that funding and staffing were both challenges.

He said: "We welcome the letter from Shropshire Defend Our NHS, received on 13 July, and we will be carefully reflecting on the concerns and suggestions raised.

“The establishment of our Integrated Care System enables us to work much closer together with all partners across health and care, and with our communities, on a county, locality and neighbourhood level.

“We are fully committed to reducing and tackling health inequalities, including those exacerbated by rurality, and improving outcomes for the local population across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin. This includes ensuring that people can access the care they need, when they need it.

“As the letter highlights, our recently published Joint Forward Plan sets out our commitment to care closer to home, delivering more joined up, integrated and proactive care in peoples’ homes and local communities.

“The role that our community hospitals play is front and central to the delivery of local care, providing crucial facilities in which to develop vibrant health and care hubs serving the local population’s needs in our rural communities. “Whilst our ambition for the existing community hospital sites is clear, the system recognises that there will be difficulties in terms of the lack of available capital and staffing challenges across both bed and community-based services. Close working will be required with all stakeholders in designing services that are co-produced and sustainable moving forwards.

“We have already gathered significant feedback from communities in terms of what they would like to see in the future and as a next step we will undertake the process of aligning this with both local authorities’ Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and Health and Wellbeing Strategies. This will then form the basis of the next stage of engagement with all our stakeholders with the intention of developing evidence-based options for care at a local level."

Patricia Davies, Chief Executive of Shropshire Community Health NHS Trust, said: “Bishop’s Castle hospital is a much-valued community hospital for Southwest Shropshire with a strong and viable future. We provide a range of services there now and will continue to do so. As an example of this, we are currently expanding the musculoskeletal service provided from Bishop’s Castle which means more people than now will be able to go there to get care and treatment for musculoskeletal conditions, a service we know there is increasing demand for.

“Separately, and not influencing the long-term future of Bishop’s Castle hospital, we are talking with the local community and our commissioners, NHS Shropshire Telford and Wrekin, about the challenges we have had recruiting enough registered nurses to safely staff a small number of rehabilitation beds in Bishop’s Castle. These beds have been temporarily closed for the past 18 months whilst we have tried hard to recruit more nurses to this service. We too are disappointed that despite significant recruitment efforts we have been unable to achieve safe staffing levels to allow us to re-open the beds.

"We are aware of the strength of feeling in the local community and have talked with a wide range of people during June and July to make sure their views are heard. These conversations will inform our Board’s decision on whether to relinquish the contract for these beds and focus on what alternative services we can provide to ensure the local community can access timely and local care.

"However, the decision about the future services within the hospital is ultimately one for our commissioners to make. We support the calls for a new vision for rural health care and will work closely with local communities and NHS and local authority partners to develop that over the next period. This work is already underway through ‘The Big Conversation’ commissioners are having with people across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin.”

To read the letter in full, visit shropshiredefendournhs.