Hospital Trust bed review sees more beds for Oldham and ward closure at Fairfield

The Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust has opened additional beds at The Royal Oldham Hospital’s A&E department to deal with the increased number of patients – but has closed a 20 bed general medical ward at the Fairfield General Hospital.

The Trust, which also runs the Rochdale Infirmary, has reviewed patient flow, bed usage and demand on services and now more resources are being channelled to the Royal Oldham.

Demand at Oldham’s A&E has increased since Rochdale Infirmary’s A&E department was withdrawn and replaced with an Urgent Care Centre.

The plans to re-align beds across the Trust’s hospital sites mean that Ward 18 at Fairfield General Hospital is being decommissioned.

Ward 18 treats patients with general medical conditions. The Trust says that it is currently not being used to its full capacity.

Staff were told of the closure on Friday; Rochdale Online understands the ward will close in 30 days.

Health Campaigner, Councillor Jean Ashworth said staff on Ward 18 are “devastated.”

Rochdale Online understands staff have been told they will be redeployed but Councillor Ashworth fears that fully qualified nurses will end up with clerical roles.

Steve Taylor, divisional director for medicine and community services at The Pennine Acute Trust, said: “Following a full review of our bed usage across our hospitals and particularly patient flow into The Royal Oldham and Fairfield General Hospitals, we are now in a position where can reduce a small number of beds at Fairfield which are not being used to full capacity.

“We are working closely with our clinical and nursing staff to progress this to meet the needs of patients. This will enable us to transfer resources between our hospitals and help us re-align our medical bed stock to meet the current patient flow and demand on our services particularly at The Royal Oldham Hospital. We are able to open five extra general medical beds and provide extra staffing at the A&E department at Oldham. This is in addition to the extra beds we opened over the last few months in the medical assessment unit at the hospital.”