A Fife hospital that cares for elderly patients may become a casualty of changes to the region’s health service.
Closure of Newport’s Netherlea Hospital is being considered as new ways of looking after older people are developed.
The hospital, which opened as a maternity unit in 1948, can cater for up to 10 patients.
A review of in-patient care is being conducted with a view to helping people stay at home for longer, and NHS Fife confirmed Netherlea’s future was under discussion.
It said the range and complexity of patient needs were growing ever more challenging to a 10-bed unit, and most Netherlea patients were in transit from other hospitals to their homes or other care providers.
Problems with the condition of the building, at over 100 years old, were also cited.
Local councillors Tim Brett and Maggie Taylor were told of the plans by Glenrothes and North East Fife Community Health Partnership, which has begun discussion with the Scottish Health Council, staff and local GPs.
Mr Brett said, “At this stage, the timescales are unclear and much of the detailed arrangements for the way in which patients will receive services in future has still to be worked out.
“It is likely that some of the older people who are currently in-patients at Netherlea will have to go to either St Andrews Community Hospital or the Adamson Hospital in Cupar to be looked after.
“Others will be looked after at home. We were told that 30% of the patients currently looked after at Netherlea come from other parts of north-east Fife.’Great affection'”We do appreciate that there is a need for the NHS to move with the times and modernise its services but local people have great affection for Netherlea and the service it provides.
“We will want to ensure that any services that are proposed to replace it can be accessed by people locally and will be as good or better than the ones currently available at Netherlea.”
Netherlea continued as a maternity hospital until the late 1960s when it became a “lying in” hospital for new mothers.
In 1974 it changed to caring for long-stay elderly patients and after alterations it became a GP community hospital in 1997, still caring for long-stay elderly patients.
CHP general manager Vicky Irons said, “We have had significant community support for many years for the care provided from community hospitals.
“We aim to maintain access to in-patient care where required, but balance this with local rapid access to day assessment and treatment services which do not rely on an admission to a hospital bed.
“We know that for many people the possibility of changes to in-patient facilities will be daunting but we would not start this unless we thought it was the right thing to do, in the interests of patients and the population.”
CHP chairman Graham Watson said, “Whilst there is a clear case for review, I understand fully that the provision of local services, particularly for older people, is valued by the community and local practitioners.
“The CHP will therefore place a high priority on the involvement of staff…in the development of service plans.”
NHS Fife gave assurance it would expect to redeploy staff if the hospital closed. The CHP is invited to a meeting of Newport, Wormit and Forgan Community Council on July 11 in the Upper Blyth Hall.