I live near Shipston, a small friendly town in Warwickshire on the edge of The Cotswolds. At the end of 19th Century, a local businessman donated a large sum for the construction of a cottage hospital in the town and it was named after his late wife-Ellen Badger. The hospital has, until very recently, provided a much-used service to local people, with minor injuries and other walk-in facilities but, at the heart of it, were in-patient beds. These were used by the chronically and, often terminally ill, or by people discharged from hospital after acute care but not yet ready to go home. There was one important factor-local people could easily visit friends and family in the local cottage hospital rather than a long car or bus ride to a remote institution. The work of the hospital has, over the years, been generously supported by The League of Friends of The Shipston on Stour Hospitals. The Hospital is managed by South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust (“SWFT”). In 2017 the Friends and SWFT both agreed that the hospital needed modernization. With good timing, a local benefactor left the Friends a large sum in his will and in April 2018, a deal was reached between the two bodies, whereby The Friends would give £650,000 to SWFT so it could buy neighbouring land to enable a redevelopment scheme. However, the donation was not unconditional and required that the land was developed within 5 years. Initially, SWFT promised the inclusion of in-patient beds and the plans submitted to the local planning authority made provision for them. However, subsequently, SWFT appeared to have reneged on the promise of beds and will give no guarantee, instead hiding behind an independent bed review, the publication of which has been constantly delayed. Meanwhile, much of the hospital has been demolished and the site has not been developed within the 5 year time scale. Unity has provided pro bono advice to the Friends and has written a letter before claim for judicial review of the failure to publish the review. Watch this space….
UNITY APPOINTED BY FRIENDS OF COMMUNITY HOSPITAL TO FIGHT FOR INPATIENT BEDS
