Hospital decision is seen as step back (From Western Telegraph)

Hospital decision is seen as step back

Tenby Cottage Hospital will not have in-patients at its new building, Pembrokeshire Local Health Board decided onWednesday.

Impassioned pleas from Tenby mayor, Councillor Caroline Thomas, AM Christine Gwyther, and other local campaigners were heard, with just one speaker backing the board's preferred option.

The campaigners claimed it essential to have NHS-managed beds within the new building, while the board stated patients would be better served by providing them through private sector nursing homes in the town.

Despite stiff local opposition, which included a 2,500 strong petition, the board backed the preferred option of an integrated day therapy and care service unit along with out-patient facilities and an x-ray and minor injuries unit within the new building. Cllr Caroline Thomas described the move as a step back 130 years to before the construction of the original hospital.

Local AM Christine Gwyther, said: "We are not in the business of opposition for opposition's sake, but senior management have remained intransigent when contacted about the new site and the only conclusion I can draw is they have never wanted NHS beds in Tenby."

Stewart Moncur, director of planning and primary care for the board, said: "There has never been an issue about there not being beds required within the Tenby area, but, more importantly, this whole debate has missed one of the primary proposals of this new service model, which is to provide a much better level of care for patients, whether it be in their own home, the new day unit or the beds which will be provided in the independent sector."

The board denied claims that a shortfall in the county's health budget had anything to do with the decision.

The plan will be put to the National Assembly, providing it is passed by the Pembrokeshire NHS Trust today.