A PROTEST petition has been launched opposing plans to cut the number of beds at Williton’s community hospital.

Its League of Friends fears the closure of six of its 12 beds for stroke patients is the “thin edge of the wedge” for the hospital’s future.

And it is calling for support from district and parish councillors as well as setting up a petition opposing the closure and demanding that the threatened beds be kept for general use.

The six beds, which form part of the hospital’s 20-bed total, are due to be “temporarily” closed from January after Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the hospital, was asked to do so by Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), which commissions services.

Since September last year, the CCG has been working with the trust to roll out a new model of stroke rehabilitation care across the county, known as the Early Supported Stroke Discharge scheme.

Following positive outcomes experienced by stroke patients after a pilot scheme in Mendip, it has been decided to extend the scheme county-wide.

The CGC and trust say the service reduces the need for hospital beds and that an evaluation has found it to be overwhelmingly popular with patients and hospital clinicians.

Staff at Williton Hospital have been informed of the beds closure and were told an evaluation of the Early Support Discharge service showed it was achieving impressive outcomes, and that limited resources meant funding to extend the scheme would be prioritised as an alternative to maintaining the current stroke beds.

League of Friends secretary Barbara Heywood told the Free Press: "As far as we know, only Williton has been affected, which makes us wonder if this is the thin edge of the wedge for the hospital.

“Once again there are concerns for its future, just five years after the last crisis.

“It would be a tragedy if it closed, there is a vital need for a community hospital."

Full report in the Free Press