A FUNDRAISING group for Thornbury Hospital which has been active for six decades is currently assessing its future, with the fate of the hospital in doubt.

Plans recently released for Thornbury Hospital and the Health Centre outline an ambitious facility offering GP services, mental health provision, outpatient primary care services and a new build 70 to 80 bed nursing home, which would include a dedicated “frailty unit”.

But Thornbury mayor Cllr Shirley Holloway, who is chairman of the League of Friends of Thornbury Hospital, said the six to 10 NHS beds planned to be in the nursing home “does not constitute a hospital”.

The hospital site is owned by North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT), with patient care provided by Sirona care and health.

With the facility’s future in doubt, and adding she had been told the building was ‘no longer fit for purpose’, despite recent praise from the health watchdog CQC, Cllr Holloway feared the patients of the Henderson Ward could be moved to a new location within weeks.

Sirona told the Gazette they were ‘exploring other options’ for providing care in Thornbury, including looking at interim sites, including rooms in existing care homes.

As a result, Cllr Holloway said that the friends were in a ‘difficult position’ and that, under the current circumstances, it would be inappropriate to raise further money for the hospital.

The League of Friends, which has run for more than 60 years, fundraises for the hospital’s staff and patients, and on top of regular weekly provision of newspapers, magazines, flowers, and a weekly confectionery and toiletries trolley, has provided the ward in recent years with special mattresses, a coffee maker for the use of visitors as well as patients, a new keyboard for musical events and specially adapted chairs for stroke patients.

She promised that all money raised in the past would be used for the benefit of patients in Thornbury and suggested that once the move to Frenchay had been completed the League will see what changes can be made to their constitution to ensure that their charitable work can continue.

Jenny Theed, Sirona care and health’s director of nursing and operations, said that they ‘have known for some time’ that the buildings at Thornbury required considerable improvement, but that their staff continued to do ‘fantastic work’ that has been commended by the CQC.

“Despite this, our staff are doing fantastic work and this has been commended by the CQC. commissioners are currently reviewing plans for the redevelopment of the hospital site and these discussions have been shared publicly," she said.

“Given that any redevelopment will take time, we are currently exploring a number of options for how we can continue to provide the high quality care in Thornbury whilst these plans are further developed.

“These include looking at interim facilities that might already exist in the town which could meet our needs.

“As and when these proposals become real possibilities, we will discuss these further with commissioners and with local people.”