At a recent meeting of Cornwall Council’s Health and Adult Social Care Overview and Scrutiny Committee, David Wilson, area director at Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, assured councillors that Falmouth Hospital remains “front and centre” in long-term healthcare plans for the region.
“There are 20 beds on the Falmouth site and no plans to close those imminently,” Mr Wilson told the committee. “We want bedded care to go into the community, but we’re not there yet.”
However, following the publication of those remarks, the Packet was contacted by an anonymous source claiming to have inside knowledge that four beds had already been closed, contradicting the Trust’s public statements.
In response, Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust confirmed that while only 16 beds are currently in use, the remaining four have not been closed but are unoccupied as part of a strategic move to manage seasonal pressures.
A spokesperson for the Trust said: “Across all our wards, we can have unoccupied or create additional temporary bed spaces for a variety of reasons at any given time.
“In line with the national request from NHS England, we are placing a special focus on reducing our bed occupancy across all hospital beds in our system below 80% before Christmas. This will help us to be ready for the rise we expect to see in seasonal viruses in early January.
“In response to this, we are looking to reduce occupancy across all sites and Falmouth currently has four beds unoccupied as part of this action. We can continue to flex our bed base in response to system pressures.”
The Trust also emphasised its commitment to supporting patients in their own homes where possible, stating: “We know from evidence that people recover better and are able to maintain their independence in their usual place of residence, so we continue to prioritise supporting people home as early as possible in their journey and reduce unnecessary delays with our system partners.”
This reassurance follows earlier confirmation from the Trust that it is reviewing the use of its 20 inpatient beds at Falmouth Hospital, with a view to potentially phasing some of them out as part of a wider ten-year NHS strategy aimed at improving outcomes and reducing hospital occupancy.