Frenchay Hospital is due to close when the new Southmead hospital opens in May 2014. Part of the plan was to have 68 beds ready as part of a Health and Social Care Centre at Frenchay but these plans are so far behind that the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is now saying they will use Elgar House at Southmead until the new Frenchay facility is built.
Cllr Sue Hope, the Lib Dem Health Spokesperson, said, “We’ve asked the Health Secretary to look again at this decision on the temporary beds and have made it clear the unit must remain in future plans. However we couldn’t support the other parties in referring all the plans to the Secretary of State. This will greatly delay planned improvements to services in Yate and across the patch and could put them at risk altogether. This issue is far too important to local people to be a political football.”
Under the CCG’s plans, Frenchay would be without health facilities until the 68 bed unit opens. However they would expand outpatient facilities in Yate and Cossham and add them to those at Southmead and Emerson’s Green, putting them within reach of the vast majority of South Gloucestershire residents. Those plans will now have to be put on hold due to the referral.
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