Hospital closure prompts fears over bed shortages
A HOSPITAL which provides long-term care for the elderly is to close, prompting concern over bed shortages and staff jobs.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said a contract with Walker Healthcare to provide specialist care for older people at Mearnskirk House in Newton Mearns will not be renewed when it expires next year.
The hospital provides care for up to 72 elderly patients in East Renfrewshire, Glasgow and Lanarkshire and has a 100-year history in the area, originally treating children who were recovering from Tuberculosis.
The health board said the closure is in line with new government policy whereby only elderly requiring a ‘hospital’ level of care should be treated in an acute setting. Money saved is to be re-invested in community facilities, the board said.
East Renfrewshire Council said the planned re-development of its only care home, Bonnyton House, would help provide a continuity of care in the area. The home is to offer intensive rehabilitation and post hospital discharge care as well as palliative care, provided by existing staff.
NHSGGC said staff were working with health and so- cial care boards to develop plans for affected patients.
Union leaders said NHS employees were being kept in the dark about their jobs.
Matt Mclaughlin, of Unison Scotland, said; “We are angry that at this time we don’t know what will happen.
“We are in the middle of an unprecedented NHS crisis, the crux of which is a shortage of beds and the decision is to close a hospital. I don’t see the logic.
“The people who are in long-term care beds have very complex needs and then you have other people in care homes, who just need a bit of extra help. The care homes get paid the same money.
“We have got Bield Homes coming out of the care home sector, Four Seasons falling out of the sector.
“We are relying on a care home model that’s clearly not working.”
Jim Swift, Conservative councillor for the area, said: “We will of course still have a shortage of acute beds, which would be fine if care could be managed to be effectively delivered in the community, but as yet the reforms required to make that happen more convincingly and certainly more safely have not been made.”
Jackson Carlaw, Conservative MSP for Eastwood, said he planned to meet with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde next week to, “ensure that all future requirements are met.”
A spokeswoman for NHSGGC said: “We have begun discussions with Trade Unions on how we consult with affected NHSGGC staff. Further meetings are planned to agree a format for our consultation with our staff and we expect this to start within the next few months, well in advance of March 2019.
“Our team in Mearnskirk House will also work with HSCPs over the next year to develop plans for any affected patients.”
Mearnskirk Hospital opened in 1930 to treat children under the age of 15 who were suffering from tuberculosis and was visited by a number of Hollywood stars and Royalty including Princess Margaret and the actor Roy Rodgers.
A bronze Peter Pan statue, in memory of one of its early physicians still stands in the hospital grounds.