Campaign to reopen Edward Hain / inpatient community hospital beds

Call for evidence

Encouraging news for those campaigning to improve community hospital inpatient beds following the Edward Hain Hospital ‘temporary’ closure came from the well attended public meeting on the NHS at Penzance organised by Andrew George on Friday.

Local GP Dr Neil Walden, who was a Panel member at the meeting, reported that the CCG ‘Locality’ Group he leads in the Penwith area is looking at options for increasing community beds and is keen to gather evidence to justify the level and need. He said that the group he leads “believe we need more community beds”, but emphasised that they need the “facts” to back up the case they’re making to NHS Kernow. He implied that this would be a new building and and said “wherever…this new community facility is…we want this to become a spark to a new and more efficient” [way for professionals to work].

Andrew George said he had already gathered cases, but has called on local people to send him more examples of where a community hospital would have provided a clearly better service than that provided to patients who may have been either sent home inappropriately with inadequate packages of care or other cases which reinforce the case for more community beds of the type lost at Edward Hain and at Poltair.

“Our campaign is succeeding, but Neil needs more evidence to support the case he’ll be making on our behalf. Of course west Cornwall Healthwatch is doing an excellent job collecting petitions to support this case and collecting patient ‘histories’ too.

“The coming months will be critical to the campaign. So please get in touch. If people like they can send cases confidentially to me at andrew@andrewgeorge.org.uk.”

A copy of the full video of the public meeting is attached here – the most relevant section for this is around 1.36 into the 2 hr video.