Work has begun to refurbish Rothbury Community Hospital ahead of finally reopening NHS beds in the Northumberland town.
Earlier in the year, NHS bosses announced plans for a new "flexible" service in partnership with local care provider People First Care, who have created a new provider called Rothbury Cottage Care. There will be 12 en-suite rooms on the premises.
News that work has begun has been welcomed by campaigners too - over more than half a decade, the Save Rothbury Community Hospital group campaigned for inpatient beds to return to the site. Provision was initially closed in 2016 when NHS bosses claimed it was "underused".
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Berwick MP and Government minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan also said she was pleased to see the refurbishment work begin on a "facility which will be truly flexible". The plan is for refurbishment work to take around four months.
A partnership between the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust and Rothbury Cottage Care, the former inpatient ward at the hospital will become a residential care home which will also offer NHS beds when needed. A team of district nurses, GPs and nurse practitioners will support the facility in providing beds for "longer-term recuperation, rehabilitation and end-of-life care".
Palliative care consultant and Northumbria Healthcare exec Paul Paes said he was delighted to see work begin, adding: "Stark lessons from the last two years include that healthcare provision needs to be flexible if it is to be sustainable and that the focus should not be on beds, but on what is going to enable patients to get better and recover as quickly as possible and the best use of our staff and resources." He said the new model would be reviewed at three and six month intervals to ensure it met patient needs.
When the refurbished ward opens, Rothbury will have a residential care facility for the first time. Home-cooked food will be available and there will also be a laundry.
Nigel Dawson, director of Rothbury Cottage Care Ltd, said the firm's ethos was to "make people feel at home, safe and well cared for". Mr Dawson added that local people should have confidence in the care that will be provided as "clear admission criteria" will be in place for both the residential care and NHS services. The firm is also looking to recruit staff locally, and potentially provide home care too.
Katie Scott, coordinator of the Save Rothbury Community Hospital campaign said: "We hoped for residential care, we pleaded for respite care, and we begged for NHS care. I am delighted that, at last, we have got it all! We very much welcome the new model of care to be provided by Northumbria Healthcare and Rothbury Cottage Care Ltd." Ms Scott paid tribute to campaigners David Brown and Maurice Cole, both who died before seeing the inpatient beds reopen.
Politicians including Ms Trevelyan and county councillor Coun Steven Bridgett also backed the move. Senior MP Ms Trevelyan said: ""I am so pleased we now have this work underway to create a facility which will be truly flexible, and mean local residents can receive NHS care, rehabilitative, respite or end-of-life care closer to home.
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