St Leonards Community Hospital is due to close this September...

Following the Clinical Services Review in Dorset, St Leonards Hospital near Ferndown is one of the community hospitals scheduled for closure. Sadly, this will begin in September 2018, when Fayrewood Ward and its staff are transferred to Royal Bournemouth Hospital. In a statement, Dorset HealthCare said there will be no redundancies and that they and Royal Bournemouth Hospital Trust are working very closely together to ensure a smooth transfer and to support staff.

Fayrewood is a 22-bed ward, which provides rehabilitation services for elderly patients. The transfer is said to form part of a wider plan to improve access to health services in Dorset.

There will be a phased transition of all community services at the hospital to other sites in the local area over the next 12 months.

If you live near St Leonards Hospital, and have never had cause to use it, you probably have no idea what a wonderful service it provides.

It not only contains clinics, but there is a physiotherapy department; out of hours doctor; night nursing service and the East Dorset rehabilitation team on site, as well as an ambulance station.

My family has made many trips to St Leonards. I used to take my mother regularly to the Parkinson’s clinic. The next nearest clinic is in Christchurch. When my husband had a suspected heart problem, it was the out of hours doctor at St Leonards who made a diagnosis. A kidney stone emergency with my eldest son over the New Year was also swiftly dealt with. A case of Christmas food poisoning, and yet again, it was the out of hours service to the rescue, this time for my youngest son, who has also received physiotherapy at St Leonards following a broken wrist. I, too, have benefitted from physiotherapy there. We can’t praise this hospital enough. Yet, despite all these visits and knowing what a vital place St Leonards is for local residents, it wasn’t until my 91-year-old mother broke her shoulder after a fall that I discovered another incredibly caring aspect, that of Fayrewood ward. Even Ron Shields, the Dorset HealthCare Trust chief executive, recently spoke with Fayrewood staff and stressed that they had provided a fabulous service to patients over many years and that the ambition was to continue with Fayrewood staff delivering the same high quality of service on the Bournemouth Hospital site.

However, one thing he overlooked was the continued support given to St Leonards by the St Leonards Hospital League of Friends, a voluntary fundraising group, headed by chairman Jacqueline Moss, and with Evelyn Stone being on the committee for the last 50 years. They have poured in the region of £1m into St Leonards to improve the hospital and it has to be one of the best, if not the best community hospital in the area, for rehabilitating elderly patients and getting them back into their own homes.

Jacqueline Moss, says, “We have spent £50,000 on goods and equipment in the last two years, paid for staff training; and have paid for an occupational therapist for the past five years.”

And yet, Dorset HealthCare has decided to shut this facility down.

It’s difficult to believe that with such strong local support and dedicated volunteers, St Leonards Community Hospital is being axed.

In 2016, a petition amassed over 5,000 signatures to save the hospital and it’s no wonder. The rooms are as near to home-from-home as you could wish for. Most have televisions in them, provided by the Friends, and these are decent flat-screen televisions with channels that can be watched for free.

Fabulous washroom facilities have also been installed, by the Friends, as have soft furnishings. The garden is stunning and before the hospital closure was announced, dementia patients used to be able to meet there for therapy and there was a large garden shed for storing equipment and providing shelter – all paid for by the Friends. The rose garden is surely the best and most therapeutic that any hospital could wish for and lovingly maintained… by the Friends.

The dining area is beautifully arranged and the general television/social room is not a faceless room with rows of elderly people sitting in it in silence. Here, the elderly are rehabilitated quickly. The staff really work hard to bring smiles and joy to those who are struggling to get better and back into their own homes.

Another overlooked fact is the welfare of patients’ relatives. My mother was initially transferred from Poole Hospital after her fall, to Alderney (also in Poole). I am not criticising Alderney, the level of care was excellent, but, the stress the location put on my brother and myself, as her carers who wanted to visit as often as possible, was unbelievable. From Ferndown to Alderney Hospital at rush hour could take up to 45 minutes. After a day’s work, I would arrive worn out, usually at teatime and have to sit while Mum ate her tea, and not get home until around 7.30pm before having a moment to think about my own food. I felt drained, yet still had to maintain my job, and produce a professional standard at work.

My brother, who does not drive and is partially sighted, had to catch the bus from West Moors to visit. The time, cost, and the knowledge that this could be averted if Mum was moved to St Leonards wore him out too. After some weeks, the staff at Alderney could visibly see the strain the travelling was putting on all of us, as it was reflected in Mum’s misery at being confined in hospital, and she did eventually get transferred to St Leonards.

This simple act of kindness transformed our lives. The rush hour journey was cut to less than five minutes, my brother could walk to the hospital and Mum, at last, settled down and began to get better. Why would any health service believe that closing a local community hospital could be beneficial?

The benefits of being able to look after people locally are too great to measure. There are hidden benefits that you wouldn’t even consider unless you are a close relative and, or, carer. Even I can’t imagine how difficult it must be for the partners of elderly patients to visit their loved ones, especially if they are placed in hospitals that are far away.

Has Dorset HealthCare even considered the increased levels of stress they will be creating for relatives and carers of the elderly when they close St Leonards?

It is surely time for the NHS to recognise the value of their community hospitals and preserve them. With an ageing population, community hospitals like St Leonards are indispensable. We should be building more, not closing down the ones that are working miracles in our communities.

I have not heard a bad word said about St Leonards. It is a first class NHS hospital and is being let go “to improve access to health services in Dorset.” It may improve the access, but that doesn’t necessarily mean people will be healthier because of it. It could see elderly people becoming increasingly isolated from their families and carers.

Closure of St Leonards will be beyond comprehension. I query the reasoning behind the loss of this incredible community facility, where many of the staff have been there for years because they love the work, live nearby and are dedicated to their community. Plus the hospital is financially supported by an active League of Friends. I can’t help but keep coming back to the same old thing.

There is a huge housing estate being built adjacent to St Leonards Community Hospital – ironically making the hospital even more vital to the community – yet the NHS is letting it go. Dorset HealthCare admits that much of the site was sold some time ago for the current housing development and that the remaining land is likely to be sold for housing at some point in the future. They justify their decision by saying that moving from St Leonards to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital site will mean there is a much greater range of services available for patients in one place and that it will also be part of a much bigger development of the Royal Bournemouth Hospital (where, by the way, you can’t find a parking space at busy times).

When Ron Shields said, “I am very proud of all of the staff working at St Leonards Hospital and they are a great credit to the NHS. They have provided a great service to the people of Dorset and will continue to in the future.” I don’t think he has thought through what he was saying.

He certainly hasn’t thought about those who will be left floundering in Ferndown, Ringwood, Verwood and the surrounding areas when they have to travel to Bournemouth to visit their loved ones, and can’t manage it. Hospitals without visitors will not help patients recover, and will distress those who can’t visit. It’s no good providing a great service if it creates health issues of another kind to develop in its wake.

The NHS needs to think more deeply about the future of this country, about people’s wellbeing and our ageing population.