Keep community hospitals open, primary care trusts told

doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7546.873

BMJ 2006;332:873 (15 April), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7546.873

News roundup

Keep community hospitals open, primary care trusts told

London Adrian O’Dowd

The government has warned primary care trusts to think again before closing community hospitals because of current financial pressures in the NHS. The health minister Lord Norman Warner told an audience of about 100 managers last week that he was concerned about panic decisions by primary care trusts to close such hospitals. Keeping them open could actually save the NHS money, he added.

Guidance on the future of community hospitals was due to be issued within the next couple of months, said Lord Warner, at the Shaping the Future conference held in London by the NHS Confederation, the body that represents NHS organisations.

“If we’re honest and frank about it, it’s a myth that the NHS needs more money to be able to keep community hospitals open or to develop them. The reality is that these facilities could actually save the NHS money, if they were used . . . [Full text of this article]

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