Skip to main contentAccess keys help

[an error occurred while processing this directive]
BBC News
Launch consoleBBC News in video and audio
News imageNews image
Last Updated: Monday, 9 October 2006, 05:54 GMT 06:54 UK
Staff lobby over hospital closure
Demonstrators outside Swansea County Hall
Opponents have claimed quality of care may fall after closure
Staff from a convalescence hospital in Swansea opposed to the threat of closure are to lobby health watchdogs.

Fairwood Hospital and one ward of Hill House could close as part of a �12m recovery plan by Swansea NHS Trust.

Swansea Local Health Board (LHB) deferred a decision on the closures in September.

A Unison spokesman said Swansea Community Health Council (CHC) was opposed to the closure and protesters would urge them to keep the same view.

They will voice their opposition when the CHC meets at the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea on Monday afternoon.

The original plan to shut Fairwood was effectively blocked last year when a 7,000-strong petition opposing it was handed in.

We are prepared to take this fight all the way to the National Assembly
Jeff Baker
Unison

However, the trust revived the proposal earlier this year and has been consulting over the summer.

The LHB has proposed setting up alternative services at the city's Singleton Hospital and improving services in the community. It will make its decision at a meeting later this month.

Unison regional organiser Jeff Baker said: "We are pleased in principle that the LHB has extended the consultation period.

"However, we are not at all convinced that the alternative they have put forward will be able to provide the same quality of care that is presently carried out in Hill House and Fairwood Hospitals."

The union wants the LHB to run the services in parallel so they can be tested for quality of patient care.

"At present the CHC is opposed to the closures and we hope that our lobby will persuade them to keep the same view.

"As far as Unison is concerned, we are prepared to take this fight all the way to the National Assembly [for Wales]," said Mr Baker.

Swansea Council has also opposed the plan in its current form because it is worried it will place additional pressures on its social services department.


SEE ALSO
Hospital closure threat suspended
29 Sep 05 |  South West Wales
Thousands oppose hospital closure
12 Sep 05 |  South West Wales
No decision over hospital closure
26 Sep 06 |  South West Wales

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites



FEATURES, VIEWS, ANALYSIS
Has China's housing bubble burst?
How the world's oldest clove tree defied an empire
Why Royal Ballet principal Sergei Polunin quit

PRODUCTS & SERVICES

AmericasAfricaEuropeMiddle EastSouth AsiaAsia Pacific