Rehab unit plan for old hospital site scrapped

10 hours ago

Mike GilmoreBristol

News image — The gates at the proposed site for the now scrapped Frenchay rehabilitation unit remain locked.

BBC A locked gate with a rusted padlock takes up the foreground. Through the steel railings you can see an empty, unattended lot. — The gates at the proposed site for the now scrapped Frenchay rehabilitation unit remain locked.

Plans for a new rehabilitation unit on the outskirts of Bristol have been scrapped by health bosses.

Frenchay Hospital closed down in 2014 when the revamped Southmead Hospital opened three miles away (4.8km). A replacement community hospital was promised for the site, but those plans were dropped in 2013 in favour of the rehab unit.

However, the local Integrated Care Board (ICB) has now scrapped those plans, citing a lack of need for the proposed unit due to a new home-first care plan. ICB bosses acknowledged the decision would be "disappointing" for some.

Campaigner Barbara Harris said: "We don't have the facilities for the population we have now."

A woman with dark, greying hair, wearing a blue cardigan and a colourful scarf, sits on a couch with a green blanket hung over it. Half a lamp can be seen in the background. — Barbara Harris has been fighting for healthcare provision in Frenchay for more than 20 years

Harris has lived in Frenchay for more than 40 years, and has spent just over half of that time campaigning for a health facility for the area.

She claimed the ICB has acted in bad faith over its failure to fulfil the plans for the site.

"When we started, the population was 250,000. Now it's 303,000, and it's due to climb, due to more and more housing," she said.

Barbara added: "People are very frustrated trying to get doctor's appointments and it goes on and on like that.

"We were lacking a surgery on Emerson's Green that's been closed for well over a year and people have to sort of be butted into another surgery and of course waiting times ... are a nightmare."

Google The image depicts a housing estate in Frenchay, Sinatra Way. Houses line the left of the image, while there's a green space to the right. In the right foreground there's a real estate sign advertising houses, with the name Redrow written on the top. — The former Frenchay Hospital site has been converted to housing, with only a small parcel of land left undeveloped.

The ICB said the current number of rehabilitation beds is sufficient to meet the area's demands, and that the South Gloucestershire area in which Frenchay sits, already has the highest number of beds per population in the area.

They say since the initial proposals, rehabilitation is now increasingly provided through home-first models, that support people to recover in their own homes.

The body has acknowledged residents' frustrations but insisted that a new facility was no longer necessary because "the evidence shows that we have the right level of capacity to support people's recovery, whether through our existing rehabilitation beds or through high-quality care provided in people's own homes".

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Liz Brennan, the leader of the Conservative Group on South Gloucestershire Council, disputed the ICB's assertion.

Citing the frequently high numbers of bed-blockers taking up space at Southmead Hospital, Brennan claimed it was "contradictory" messaging.

She expressed worry with how well-conceived the plans for the area were.

"We know South Gloucestershire has over 22,000 houses being put on them by the government and South Gloucestershire administration," she said.

"How much forward planning has gone into this vision? We know it's extremely difficult at Southmead. We also know that a lot of cases this year find it extremely hard to get to Southmead with connectivity."

Meanwhile, Harris said she considers the ICB's home-first model as a social experiment, and she has vowed to continue fighting for the facility that was promised.

"We're thinking about those patients who can't fight for themselves so we'll keep on because we want to know how they work this out so that it benefits us," Harris added.

"After all, we pay our council tax. We pay our government taxes.

"And yet, seemingly, we get nothing for our money."

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