Campaigners unite against NHS cuts in South Shropshire

Health campaigners were out in force in Bishop's Castle at the weekend as part of the ‘Save Bishop’s Castle Community Hospital Beds’ campaign, set up to oppose the permanent closure of 16 beds at Bishop’s Castle Community Hospital.

Campaigners were out in the town petitioning and leafleting, one of those involved in providing their support was Councillor Darren Childs who went to Bishop's Castle on Sunday along with three others from Ludlow.

It comes at a time of concern for all NHS healthcare in the south of the county.

Councillor Darren Childs, 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.

"The loss of beds at Bishop’s Castle Hospital comes in a wider context: the year-on-year cuts to rural healthcare. The three rural midwife-led units were closed – officially in 2018, but battered by repeated short-term closures for 18 months before that. Other services just quietly get cut or vanish altogether – e.g. mental health crisis support, audiology, and dementia services.

"Shockingly, seven community ambulance stations have gone since 2018. Ambulance response times are now appalling in rural Shropshire. The target for response times for Category 2 calls is 18 minutes (with a temporary variation to 30 minutes this year because the crisis in the NHS is so deep). Rural Shropshire? Not a hope. An example for SY8, the Ludlow area, for May 2023 – the most recent data we have. The average time for an ambulance to arrive for a Category 2 call was 56 minutes, just under an hour. For one in ten calls, the ambulance took longer than an hour and a half to arrive.

"In South Shropshire, 24 beds at Ludlow Hospital were closed in 2015 and 16 beds at Bishop’s Castle in 2021. The consequence? Patients are being discharged from Hereford Hospital, too frail and ill to go home – so they’re being sent to Ludlow Travelodge instead, because there’s nowhere else for them to go! Health bosses insist this isn’t happening. GPs and Councillors in Ludlow and Bishop’s Castle insist it is. And, yes, the GPs and Councillors are right on this one."

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!"

The letter is currently signed by 104 people, including two GPs (Dr Adrian Penney from Bishops Castle, and Dr Catherine Beanland from Ludlow). They are joined by the Mayors of four towns, many councillors and a growing number of local people.