Patrick Stead Hospital in Halesworth will close with beds being provided in the new Castle Meadow facility, the CCG said
NHS bosses have approved the closure of two community hospitals in Suffolk.
The local clinical commissioning group's governing body has voted to replace Southwold Hospital and Patrick Stead Hospital in Halesworth with beds at other community facilities.
The plan would also see the loss of GP beds at hospitals in Beccles, Great Yarmouth and Ditchingham.
Campaigners opposed the hospital closures, but NHS managers said care could be provided in people's homes.
Campaigners attended a public meeting earlier this year in Halesworth about the proposed changes to NHS services
The GP beds would disappear at Beccles Hospital in Suffolk, while in Norfolk they would go at All Hallows Hospital, Ditchingham and Northgate Hospital in Great Yarmouth, but the facilities would remain open for the other services they provide.
'Cynicism'
The decisions followed a public consultation across the summer, which NHS Great Yarmouth & Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said had 1,900 responses.
Frank Joyce, from the Lowestoft Against The Cuts group, said: "It's alright consulting, but if you take no notice of the consultation, it breeds more cynicism."
Southwold Hospital would also close once services had been provided elsewhere, the CCG said
Andy Evans, chief executive of the CCG, said: "We guarantee we won't close services until we have all of the services in place in the new model, so that we have better care in the future.
"Local doctors say the model they want to operate under is one where we've got multi-disciplinary teams looking after people at home."
The CCG said when care could not be provided with health teams in a patient's home, beds would be provided in local nursing and residential homes.
- Published23 September 2014
- Published16 January 2012
