HUNDREDS of protesters are expected to take to the streets of Bury to make a stand against controversial proposals to close Fairfield Hospital's rehabilitation ward for the elderly.

The protest, organised by the joint unions of the Pennine Acute Trust, Bury Pensioners' Association and Bury Stop The War Coalition, will start from Bury Town Hall on Saturday, November 18, at 2pm.

The trust has published its consultation document on plans to close 27 beds on Ward 30 and fully re-open Ward 29, which currently has nine beds shut.

People who want to respond to the proposals have until the November 30 deadline.

Hospital bosses want to close 250 beds across the trust's four sites, which includes Fairfield, in a bid to save money after falling £28 million into debt. The trust launched a financial recovery programme to tackle the cash crisis and targeted Ward 30 due to a lower occupancy rate than the other four sites.

The consultation document states the occupancy rate for medical beds at Fairfield is 74 per cent, so that approximately 57 medical beds are unused at any one time. The trust normally expects an occupancy rate of around 85 per cent, with 35 beds expected to be empty - therefore the trust is maintaining 22 beds at Fairfield it does not need.

Medical director Dr Ruth Jameson said: "If we simply close beds which are needed then they will have to be re-opened, which will certainly not save any money. Under the NHS funding schemes, it is costing us eight per cent more to provide services than we receive for them. In order to achieve the appropriate financial savings it would not be possible simply to remove beds in ones and twos from individual wards, rather whole wards need to be closed."

Dr Jameson said that when demand for beds was higher than usual, plans would be in place to make additional beds available. The trust is due to report back to the Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee on December 12. The consultation document is available online at www.pat.nhs.uk and by calling 0161 604 5461.

  • The Bury Times revealed two weeks ago that a 30-day consultation has also begun into plans to close two beds and redeploy five nurses from Fairfield's coronary care ward, which has angered more patients.

Rosalind Abbott of Parr Lane, Unsworth, who was treated on Ward One said: "The care I received on that ward was brilliant and it is such a shame if the beds go. "