The Board of Guildford and Waverley Primary Care Trust (PCT) in Surrey held an ‘extraordinary meeting’ yesterday where it decided to close Milford Hospital and remove all 14 beds from Cranleigh Village Hospital.
Members of the public were invited to attend the meeting but were not allowed to participate.
It followed the PCT’s consultation on its ‘Modernising your local healthcare’ strategy.
The Guildford and Waverley PCT Board had announced on Wednesday: ‘Discussion of the outcome of the Public Consultation is the only agenda item for this extraordinary meeting and there will be no informal session prior to it or opportunities for public participation during the actual meeting.
‘However, members of the public are welcome to attend this meeting to observe the proceedings.’
‘Following this robust and systematic preliminary appraisal of all options against the ten criteria established by the Clinical Advisory Group, Professional Executive Committee, and PCT Board, the Board has been asked to discuss further the possibility of moving forward with Option 1, which would involve keeping beds open at Haslemere Hospital and removing beds from Cranleigh Hospital.
‘Milford Hospital would be closed and specialist rehabilitation services moved to Farnham.’
The PCT trust aims to make ‘substantial financial savings (a minimum of £1.5m)’.
The Board acknowledged that ‘people feel passionately about their local hospital, including the number of beds available’ but claimed ‘people agree there is need for change’.
Campaigners have been fighting to prevent closure of Milford and all 14 beds at Cranleigh Village Hospital.
They said the move threatened ‘facilities for many thousands of future patients on the Surrey/Sussex border.’
But the PCT decided on Option 1 claiming bed closures would be countered with a range of alternative community services and that there were no planned staff redundancies.
