Despite rising need for in-patient care, SWFT says there will be no beds at new Ellen Badger – patients must go to Leamington or Stratford

HEALTH bosses have delivered a hammer blow to residents by finally admitting there will be no beds in Shipston’s Ellen Badger community hospital.

It has confirmed the beds snatched away from Shipston will go to Leamington instead.

The controversial decision, which has taken two years, crushes campaigners’ dreams of having an NHS hospital - with hospital beds - built in Shipston.

It is the long-awaited result of South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT)’s review of inpatient facilities at the Ellen Badger and the Nicol Unit at Stratford Hospital.

The news will further infuriate the Ellen Badger Hospital League of Friends who handed over £635,000 back in 2018, on condition SWFT use it to rebuild the town’s community hospital.

All parties agreed the old Ellen Badger Hospital in Shipston was not fit for purpose and that a new hospital needed to be built.

SWFT used the cash donated by the League to buy the land next to the Ellen Badger, allowing for new buildings and expansion.

Conditions attached to the loan said the new site must be ‘satisfactorily’ developed within five years, or the League would take its money back.

Thanks to multiple changes and confusion over the concept and delays, relations between Shipston residents and the Trust have soured to the point where both parties had consulted lawyers, as reported in the Herald earlier this month.

In its announcement today [Friday 26th May] SWFT says it is increasing the number of community beds from 35 to 41, and that beds at Stratford’s Nicol Unit will be kept but this is unlikely to placate the League and other campaigners.

SWFT said its review has considered “lots of elements including feedback from the public, clinicians, and professional partners. This has then been combined with key data on patient safety, accessibility, and workforce considerations”.

The Trust said it hopes home-based therapy, which supports patients in their home after a stay in a main hospital, home-based overnight care and boosting the community response team will help prevent unnecessary hospital admissions.

It says it will also work with hospices to support end-of-life patients to die at home.