‘Cruel’ decision to close Bridlington Care Unit met with anger and outrage

The move to permanently close the service at Bridlington hospital was made at a York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust meeting this week.

The trust’s Board of Directors supported a recommendation to permanently close Bridlington Care Unit (BCU) and move to a community-based model of care for patients who no longer need acute hospital treatment.

However, health campaigners, the town’s MP, and a union have reacted to the move with dismay.

Unite, the UK’s leading union, said the move will result in the ‘worst possible outcome for patients and staff’.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “This is a cruel decision that will leave vulnerable patients at risk of substandard care or stranded miles from home.

“It will result in the worst possible outcome for patients and staff and is nothing more than shameless cost cutting at the expense of Bridlington’s residents. Unite remains firm in demanding the trust abandons these plans.”

The union added: “Bridlington Hospital has suffered years of cuts to services – despite being one of the region’s most modern hospitals at just 30 years old.”

Unite regional officer Chris Daly added: “The trust claims that services at Bridlington Hospital are actually going to increase while announcing the closure of one of its most crucial wards. Nobody – not staff, patients nor the people of Bridlington – is fooled. It is as clear as day that Bridlington is being treated as a poor relation.”

Bridlington and the Wolds MP, Charlie Dewhirst, said: “The final decision to permanently close the Bridlington Hospital Care Unit is deeply frustrating and I completely share local residents’ disappointment and anger at this.

“It also should absolutely not have taken nearly 6,000 signatures on my petition to Parliament to make the NHS Trust bother with any public consultation whatsoever, or realise the strength of local feeling and apologise for their complete lack of it. The pause, review of local concerns and public engagement we secured was the minimum that local people deserved in the first place.

“Now that the decision has been made, we urgently need the hospital’s NHS Trust and the local Integrated Care Board (ICB) to set out a clear plan that includes any transition period plan and detailing exactly how the needs of Bridlington patients will be met going forward through their proposed “community-based model of care.”

Dr Anthony Clarke, chair of Bridlington Health Forum, said: “It is extremely regrettable that this decision has ignored very strong opposition from the Bridlington community, opposition that has been unequivocally expressed through the trust’s own Engagement sessions and online survey.”

Bridlington Care Unit was established during the COVID-19 pandemic as a temporary step-down facility to provide additional capacity for people who were medically ready to be discharged from hospital but were delayed in accessing the rehabilitation or social care support they needed to return home.

Clare Smith, chief executive of the trust, said: “This decision was not taken lightly, and we recognise the strength of feeling in Bridlington, not just about the Care Unit but about the hospital’s future more broadly.

“The Board has supported the recommendation because patients who no longer need acute hospital treatment should, wherever it is safe and clinically appropriate, be supported to return home as soon as possible and with the right package of care around them.

“Most patients are already discharged from our hospitals with the appropriate support in place, and we will continue to work closely with community and social care providers to ensure that those who may have been admitted to the BCU whilst waiting for these arrangements to be made can be safely discharged with the support they need.

“We want to be clear that Bridlington Hospital remains an important part of local healthcare provision. and we have been actively working to increase the services that are available there, particularly in planned surgery and outpatients."

“This decision is specific only to the BCU and does not impact the future of the wider hospital site. We have heard clearly that people want a stronger, more visible plan for services in Bridlington, and that work will continue with the community and our partners."