GP and TV medic Dr Sarah Jarvis will lead a protest against plans to build Shipston’s hospital without any beds

SWFT has said it will increase community hospital beds from 35 to 41, with Stratford Hospital retaining its beds and Leamington Hospital getting the extra beds.

This would mean that people would have to travel to access health care facilities previously available in Shipston.

Dr Jarvis told the Herald: “This is something local people feel absolutely passionately about and I have come on board for a very, very good reason.

“I’ve always tried very hard not to be political and think this is possibly the closest I’ve ever come but I felt I had no choice but to attend, because I need people to understand how essential it is to have community facilities which complement hospital at home and provide a stepping-stone between home and hospital.

“My job is to look at what patients need.”

Plans to build a new Shipston hospital with beds were first unveiled in 2018, but in a move that infuriated townspeople who had fundraised more than £600,000 for the new development, SWFT announced that it was jettisoning in-patient facilities following a ‘bed review’.

The findings were presented for approval at the meeting of the NHS Coventry and Warwickshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) on 19th July where they approved a business case pre-consultation.

As the Herald recently reported, councillors from across the political spectrum joined forces to demand a 12-week public consultation exercise to find out what people think of the proposals.

Dr Jarvis, who qualified as a medical doctor in 1986 and has spent more than 27 years as a practising GP, is well-known to millions for her regular appearances on TV and radio including The One Show, Good Morning Britain, ITN and BBC Radio 2.

She said: “[Ellen Badger] is a hospital which was promised to the local community on the basis that it was needed and the idea that they are now effectively offering something completely different and still trying to call it a hospital is absolute nonsense. I strongly suspect that the [bed] review was a foregone conclusion before it started.”

She added: “Community hospitals are the lifeblood of small communities. For patients who are ill enough to leave district general or university hospitals but not well enough to go home or who need to be observed but don’t need the intensity of hospital admission, this is a more cost-effective option and provides a local, familiar stepping-stone, which may reduce bed-blocking.”

As for SWFT’s plan to build a Shipston hospital with no in-patient facilities, Dr Jarvis pointed out: “It’s not a community hospital if it doesn’t have any beds. There is absolutely no point. They’ve got a carpark, a cafe, a health and wellbeing centre - whatever that means, and some offices - that’s not a community hospital.”

She and husband Tim, who grew up near Shipston, moved back to the area 18 months ago as they wanted somewhere with ‘decent healthcare nearby,’ so they could ‘future-proof’ themselves.

Previously SWFT chief executive Glen Burley has said data showed community beds were in much higher demand in the greater Leamington area than in Shipston.

Dr Jarvis, 60, is the author of six books including one about the ethics of dying, co-written with radio journalist John Humphreys.

She said: “The simple fact is that if people are going to be able to have ‘good deaths’, there needs to be a variety of services.

“Hospice care is invaluable and home nursing care can be invaluable.

“Most people do not want to die in hospital - having a couple of beds which can be used as hospice beds is a really invaluable part of this community hospital bed offering.”

The demonstration will start from The White Bear at 10.30am on Saturday, 5th August and march to the site of the Ellen Badger Hospital.