WHITEHILL and Bordon county councillor Adam Carew has said the decision to provide care for Bordon residents at Petersfield Community Hospital is “understandable”, but fiercely criticised the NHS for finding itself in this position.

He told the Bordon Herald that he was “very frustrated at the painfully slow rate of NHS progress” on local health provision.

His comments came after the NHS said it had made new arrangements for patients from the Whitehill, Bordon, Headley and Liss areas who need nursing care away from their homes.

South Eastern Hampshire Clinical Commissioning Group “moved swiftly” to make the arrangements after Liss nursing home Wenham Holt said it will no longer be able to provide four community beds currently designated for NHS patients.

The Clinical Commissioning Group commissioned the beds in 2013 to care for patients needing full-time nursing, including end-of-life care, after closing the beds ward at Chase Community Hospital.

At the time the NHS insisted the beds were underused and, therefore, not cost effective to maintain in their current location. Mr Carew resisted the decision to move the beds out of the town - which he described this week as “plain wrong” - but his and fellow campaigners’ efforts ultimately did not sway the NHS.

He said that having organised a community campaign to keep the beds at the Chase, working with doctors, patients groups and the Chase League of Friends, people were “appalled but perhaps not surprised” the ward closed.

“Whitehill and Bordon is the second biggest town in East Hampshire, with a further 3,500 houses to come over the next 25 years and the loss of beds at the Chase was a very short sighted decision,” he said.

“All our petitions, vigils, motions to council and representations to NHS chiefs fell on deaf ears and, despite extensive NHS consultation, their decision to axe our beds seemed like a forgone conclusion.

“We were told by the Primary Care Trust and the Clinical Commissioning Group that most patients could be cared for in their own home, and those who couldn’t could be looked after at Wenham Holt Nursing Home at Hill Brow near Liss, despite problems of transport.

“Now this contract has ended, it seems certain the beds will be provided even further away at Petersfield Hospital. For all of us who fought so hard to save our beds the question again must be asked why is it okay for Petersfield and Alton to have beds and not Whitehill and Bordon?

“Since our beds were removed against local wishes, those of us who sit as local stakeholders have known a number of residents, including family members, who could have otherwise been cared for at the Chase either as step-down cases or end of life care.

“Moreover, we were told the loss of beds would facilitate all sorts of positive changes in the hospital.

“Sadly, the promised surgeries have not moved in and the Chase has been paying a high price for what is now empty space.

“At the outset of all this I asked for a Health Needs Assessment to be drawn up and, from this and NHS consultations, we drew up an evidence base for a list of medical services to be provided at the hospital and needed in the town.

“This was enshrined in the Chase Charter. The NHS must make good on its promise to deliver these in Whitehill and Bordon and it must include a minor-injuries service, the ability to rent NHS beds from a new nursing home and X-ray facilities.

“The concept of a state-of-the-art health campus in the new town centre is a very exciting prospect and none of that would have been possible without the vision and leadership of East Hampshire District Council. Thanks to the council, we also have Government Healthy New Towns status, but while plans for a state-of-the-art health facility are being developed, there must still be a role for the Chase Hospital until the new site can be delivered around 2019.

“The decision to axe our beds was just plain wrong.

“At the time we warned that taking away our beds would rip the heart out of Chase Hospital. While we sympathise that our medical colleagues have had to battle complex NHS bureaucracy, I am not alone when I say local health representatives are all very frustrated at the painfully slow rate of NHS progress.”

No new admissions will be accepted into Wenham Holt Nursing Home after tomorrow, September 30.

Any patients from the area needing a community bed from October will be admitted to Petersfield Community Hospital.

Transport for visitors can be accessed free of charge via Community First by calling 01420 475759.