Announcement on Alex Hospital future expected

A SIGNIFICANT announcement regarding the future of the Alexandra Hospital is expected to be made next week.

Health bosses are meeting early next week to discuss the next stage in the Joint Services Review process. Although it is understood a detailed shortlist of options will not now be available until January, information about how services may be provided is expected to be announced.

But Dr Jonathan Wells, chair of the newly-formed Redditch and Bromsgrove CCG, said the work of the Save the Alex Campaign group and the 54,000 plus people who signed the petition had strengthened their voice to resist plans to totally downgrade the Alex, but he warned some change was inevitable.

"We want the to get the best possible range of services at our local hospital and we will fight tooth and nail for that, but what we can't do is force a provider to provide something which is clinically unsafe," he said.

"We want sustainability and not something which in a few years falls apart, we want to see the Alexandra Hospital invested in but that's not the same as saying there can't be any change at all, there will be.

"We want the vast majority of services still to be provided at the Alex, but we want it to be high quality and clinically safe and that's what we are striving for."

Neal Stote, chairman of the Save the Alex campaign, said any proposal to downgrade A&E or maternity services would be met with anger, scepticism and anxiety.

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