Overview
- The York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust board supported the recommendation to close the Bridlington Care Unit on Thursday and to move patients who no longer need acute treatment into community-based care.
- The trust says most patients can be safely discharged home with the right package of community and social care and that detailed implementation timetables will be shared when ready.
- Public opposition was strong during the review with 91% of consultation respondents opposing closure and the East Riding scrutiny sub-committee reviewing the proposals before the board decision.
- Unite the Union condemned the move as harmful to patients and staff, warning of higher readmission risks, gaps in home-care provision and possible redundancies or transfers of nurses and healthcare assistants to York or Scarborough.
- The Bridlington Care Unit was set up during the COVID-19 pandemic as a temporary step-down ward and the trust says this decision affects only the BCU while Bridlington Hospital will keep other services and work to expand planned surgery and outpatients.