Councillors are calling for the region’s cottage hospitals to be reopened.
The Kirkcudbright and Newton Stewart facilities, as well as those in Langholm and Moffat, were mothballed in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
But the independent group of councillors is urging regional NHS chief Jeff Ace to reopen them to ease pressure on the health and social care system.
Dee and Glenkens ward representative, Dougie Campbell, said: “Kirkcudbright Cottage Hospital is very much valued by my local community and if re-opened could play a vital role in relieving current pressure on NHS staff, and importantly, make much needed beds available in the DGRI.”
NHS Dumfries and Galloway has revealed it will shortly be carrying out a consultation as part of “a review of community bed base requirement”.
And Mr Campbell called for it to provide clarity on what this could mean for older and vulnerable residents accessing locally based in-patient care before returning home.
He added: “I also hope that the promised engagement with local communities begins soon, that the review has clear parameters and, that the NHS take full cognisance of the service our local community hospital has had and can continue to offer.
“DGRI is a long way from our rural community and difficult to travel to. There is a view locally that the longer the community hospital is closed to in-patients the more likely it is that it will never re-open, and in the absence of suitable options to modernise local NHS community-based care in the short term, I really hope that this is not the case.”
The four hospitals were closed to new admissions after the health board designated them “step-down facilities” for Covid-19 patients.
Figures from the NHS Inform website suggest reopening the sites would add 58 hospital beds back into the region’s capacity, which could allow patients to be closer to home while they waited for suitable care packages to be put in place.
Mr Ace recently admitted that in one day in October there were 139 people in the region’s hospitals even though they were well enough to leave.
Castle Douglas councillor, Iain Howie, said: “Any measures that can be taken to alleviate the pressures on NHS staff and patients is absolutely welcomed and I support the actions being taken by the independent group.”
In addition to the region’s main hospitals, at Dumfries and in Stranraer, there are community facilities in Annan, Castle Douglas, Lochmaben, and Thornhill.
A health board spokesman said: “Around two thirds of patients in our cottage hospitals are medically fit for discharge and we are working to enhance our community teams to speed up their journey home.
“Our community teams are currently supporting around 100 people who would otherwise be delayed in hospital awaiting care and support in their own homes.
“To open more hospital beds, we would need to take staff from our enhanced community teams, making them less able to support people in their own homes risking further increases in the numbers of people delayed in hospital.
“As we address the gap in capacity in care at home, and start to reduce delayed discharges, we will get a much clearer picture of our actual community bed requirements across the region.”
