‘THERE are no plans to close Launceston Hospital’ — this was the message from the chief executive officer of Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust at a meeting in the town last week, writes Amy Dennis.

Phil Confue attended the meeting of Launceston Town Council on June 20 to speak to councillors and members of the public about the hospital, as he said he was aware the hospital was ‘of concern’ to people locally.

He had also attended the meeting of St Stephen by Launceston Rural Parish Council the previous evening, where he said there is no economic case for the closure of the town’s hospital.

Fears about the future of community hospitals in Cornwall were raised with the publication of the Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) ‘Shaping Our Future’ document — this outline plan said a reduction in the number of hospital beds and community hospital sites in Cornwall could be on the cards.

There was consultation on this from November to January, when people had a chance to have their say on the local plans through a survey or series of community events.

The meeting heard there will be further discussion around the ‘Shaping Our Future’ document this summer and a formal consultation in January/February.

Mr Confue described it as a ‘nervous time’ and said: “There is an over supply of beds within community hospitals in Cornwall. There will be a reduction in beds across the whole of Cornwall.

“There is, through the STP, a review of community services, hospital services and acute services. If we look logically it’s about what populations they serve and what services there are around them.

“There are no other hospitals nearby [Launceston Hospital]. There are no threats to Launceston Hospital going forward.”

Although parts of the hospital may need to close for repair works, Mr Confue stressed this would only be temporary: “There is work to do on Launceston Hospital and we are liasing with NHS Property Services. There are issues with the roof and we want to get that roof sorted. At some points parts of the hospital will be closed for repairs.

“If you go to any of the hospitals there’s work that needs to be done and Launceston is no different. We are working with NHS Property Services to make sure that’s done in a timely way.”

As well as assuaging fears about the future of the town’s hospital, Mr Confue suggested it could develop to offer more services. He said some things that people travel to Derriford Hospital for, for example blood transfusions, ‘can be delivered locally’.

He said while historically the bigger acute hospitals had been ‘reluctant’ to handover services, ‘they are now so under pressure that’s a sensible thing to do’.

He said the STP is looking at establishing a number of ‘urgent care centres’, which would offer a mix of services, and take pressure away from A&E departments.

He added: “There are probably only going to be three, four or five in Cornwall. I think for East Cornwall you might want to lobby that Launceston makes sense.

“Now is the time to lobby to say Launceston would be an ideal place to support East Cornwall. It’s your hospital, if you want to see it develop, if you want it to become something like an urgent care centre you need to use your voice.”

Town councillor John Conway, who is also the clerk to St Stephen by Launceston Rural Parish Council, said: “St Stephen council has already taken up the baton and will be lobbying as hard as possible to get this to happen. We do need to take heart from the position that yes Launceston Hospital is safe but the fact we can make it go further and there’s good cause to make for it is brilliant.”

Deputy mayor Cllr Dave Gordon, said: “It’s great news from our point of view. The hospital is very precious not only to the town but the area.”

Cllr Rob Tremain told Mr Confue: “I’m a lot happier than I was before you walked in! In the past we have been very concerned about the hospital, various members of the community have lobbied, protested and marched over the last 20 years.

“That doesn’t mean to say nothing’s going to change. Listening to you it sounds like it’s going to change for the good. We are a very rural, spread out community and I think [an urgent care centre is] something we could work towards.”

Joan Heaton, deputy chair of St Stephen by Launceston Rural Parish Council, said: “The community hospitals are so important and it’s encouraging ours is going to stay; it relieves our larger hospitals.

“We have all heard of black alerts and bed blocking. We have got an ageing population and that’s going to happen more.”

The chair of St Stephen by Launceston Rural Parish Council, Val Lindley, who heard from Mr Confue at the parish council’s meeting on the Monday night, June 19, told the Post: “We were assured in the sense that it was good to hear that they are considering keeping Launceston Hospital. As a parish council we will be lobbying to improve the services there.

“It was positive, it was nice of him to come out. It’s an important service and we want to retain it, particularly as we are in a rural area out here. It’s a vital service.”