GPs link to community hospital severed after NHS cuts

The news comes a year after inpatient wards at the Chalfonts and Gerrards Cross hospital, which is opposite the Calcot Medical Centre, were closed after they were condemned as unsafe by fire officers because there was an insufficient fire escape in the building.
Patients at the site were moved Amersham hospital as a result of the closure, but doctors from the Calcot Medical Centre had still been travelling there to provide medical care, until now.
Dr Simon Butcher, one of the GPs at Calcot, said: "It is not a big surprise because I know that the PCT is trying to cut costs and make savings, but this is a real shame.
"It has effectively cut all our ties with our community hospital. After the Chalfonts and Gerrards Cross hospital shut, we still going to Amersham to provide care, but the fact that the PCT has appointed another group to do this means that our links to our patients have been severed."
The link between the medical centre and the hospital is thought to go back 100 years at least, and this had been allowed to continue, despite the closure of the wards at the Chalfonts and Gerrards Cross site.
However, the decision to stop the medical cover has now ended this tie forever.
Dr Butcher added: "We want our patients to be made aware that this is not our decision and not something that we can do anything about. We deeply regret what has happened."
A statement from Bucks PCT said: "In reaching this decision the PCT was aware of the concerns raised by some GPs and local people that this undermines the link between local GPs and the local hospitals. We wish to emphasise this is not how it is seen by the PCT. We see community hospitals as vital parts of the picture of healthcare in Buckinghamshire. We need to change and develop our services to support people closer to their own homes, and avoid increasing admissions to acute hospitals.
"We will be consulting in the autumn over our plans for developing 'integrated community services', that support more people at home, improve urgent care along the lines already agreed, and maximise the effective use of community hospitals.We believe this debate is vital to provide a sustainable and fit for purpose health economy into the future."