Tale of two hospitals
Posted by Philip Dunne, MP for Ludlow, at 12:46, Tue 2 February 2010:
Last week saw two of our community hospitals in south Shropshire facing very different issues, though both heading in the same positive direction.
On Tuesday work stopped on the final phase of refurbishment of Bishop's Castle community hospital at Stone House. The workforce were told not to come on site and builders merchants began retrieving unpaid for goods.
It has taken nearly a week to establish that prime contractor Frank Galliers Ltd has suffered a multi-million pound litigation loss and appears to have ceased trading.
Shropshire County PCT secured the site and promptly began discussions with contractors to get the work finished. After last week's hiccup, hopefully this will soon be back on track to complete within 8 weeks so the newly refurbished hospital could be re-equipped for opening this Spring.
Meanwhile on Wednesday the West Midlands Strategic Health Authority approved the strategic outline business case put forward by Shropshire County PCT for a £27million redevelopment of a health village for Ludlow, combining the Community Hospital with the town's two GP practices to provide enhanced services. The SHA approved a £2m contribution to the capital cost, which will be funded under the NHS' Express LIFT scheme.
There are many details to be fine-tuned, including precise location and size, and much work to be done to turn this commitment into a modern health facility for all of south Shropshire and the 16,000 patients of Ludlow's GPs. But this is an essential first step, which I hope all in the community will welcome.
Two hospitals providing vital services to our communities, both threatened with closure four years ago, both now heading towards a future fit for our 21st century health needs.
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Posted by graeme perks, 06:58, Wed 3 February 2010: (Is this post abusive?) #
Dear Philip
When some of us organized the Ludlow March(s)to save Ludlow hospital,we were pleased to have your support early on, for the non party political way in which you supported and continue to do so local issues. Ludlow, Bishop's Castle and Whitchurch hospital compaigns supporting each other in real fellowship.
I just hope that the government overuse of PFI's does not saddle us with incresed community running costs, for such large scale capital projects in the future. I think the community is divided still in Ludlow about the out of town location for the new Ludlow Hospital, but I hope the development of the existing Ludlow hospital site and the continued working with the towns GP practices will unite and not devide the town/one of the two current GP sites should still be a town centre service point- and lets hope that in future we do not see any of our hight street chemist shops closing down . Well done to Peter Corfield and the Ludlow Hospital League of friends. Philip Keep up the good work - we are very fortunate to have you and your team representing us. Graeme Perks Ludlow