Hospital chiefs to be quizzed

Ethel Powell, chairman of the Hospital's League of Friends, has put forward a question to next week's Cannock Community Forum where the proposals to close care homes in Staffordshire will be discussed.

Mrs Powelll has said patients and relatives who visit the Davy unit have been told "categorically" that the unit will close.

The Davy Unit is jointly funded by Mid Staffordshire General Hospital Trust and Staffordshire County Council.

It is used as a rehab clinic for predominantly elderly patients and also as a day care centre for around 45 people. It has three day rooms, a dining and activities room, medical room and physio treatment room.

Staff at the unit organise a variety of activities including exercise groups, baking groups and more.

Now the county could pull its funding of the unit as part of its plans to close care homes across Staffordshire to avoid a multi-million pound deficit.

At the Community Forum meeting on May 14 Mrs Powell will quiz Geraint Griffiths, who is the locality director for South Staffordshire PCT.

The council has denied a decision has already been made but insiders at the trust claim staff have been told the centre is doomed.

William Tunnicliffe, whose wife visits the Davy Unit said both of them were told the centre would shut in September.

He said: "A woman from social services was there and she told us it would be closed in September. I think it's terrible, it's like a farm and we are all treated like cattle. It's all about money."

A spokesman for Staffordshire County Council refused to answer questions on whether Mr Tunnicliffe's version of events was false but repeated that no final decision had been made and patients would be consulted.

Mid Staffordshire General Hospital's Trust has said it is in talks with the county council to provide a "significant upgrade, not a closure" of the Davy Unit.

The community forum takes place in the ballroom at the civic centre on Beecroft Road, Cannock, at 7pm on May 14.