Fourteen-bed ward unsafe

The inpatient ward at The Chalfonts and Gerrards Cross Hospital is to be closed within 12 weeks because it is unsafe.

The Buckinghamshire Primary Care Trust board decided last Wednesday that patients will be moved to another hospital, probably Amersham Hospital, where there are vacant wards.

The PCT will then start a public consultation into the future of the hospital in Chalfont St Peter, which will consider 'all options', including selling at least part of the site.

In the meantime outpatient services, which underwent renovation two years ago, will continue as normal.

Board members were told that the inpatient ward has to be moved because an annual fire assessment found there is inadequate emergency access from the 14-bed ward, which is on the first floor.

For some time the hospital has relied on evacuation chairs but proper emergency exits must be put in place within 12 months.

A wider, separate survey has revealed a host of other problems.

A considerable programme of work is needed to bring the 130-year-old building in line with legal

requirements, the board was told by director of provider services Katie Donlevy.

The older parts of the hospital, which dates from 1871, need to be rewired and replumbed and asbestos removed. Wards at Amersham Hospital, if used, will undergo a deep clean and minor alterations before patients are transferred.

Head of communications Angela Spatcher told the Advertiser after last week's board meeting that the PCT would start a public consultation on the future of the hospital very soon.

Chief executive Ed Macalister-Smith admitted at the meeting that it is possible that all or part of the the site, in Hampden Road, could be sold. But he also said that he sees this as an opportunity to improve community health facilities in the area, and implied that he would like to do that on the current Chalfont St Peter site.

An independent report last year on the PCT's five community hospitals said they would be significantly more efficient if amalgamated on two sites. Of the five, The Chalfonts and Gerrards Cross Hospital is in the worst condition.

The PCT ended the last financial year £11million in the red.