Hospital pledges to save beds from axe

Aug 28 2007 By Gary Marks, Birmingham Mail

PSYCHIATRIC beds at Birmingham Children's Hospital are not going to be axed, the trust's chief executive has said.

Earlier this monthAUG8 the city council's health overview and scrutiny committee heard how beds on Ward 3 - part of the hospital's Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services - would face "marginal" cuts of "less than 50 per cent".

A proposed reduction in beds was made as the ward is to close to make way for a private sector-run paediatric research unit.

But hospital chief executive Paul O'Connor has confirmed all ten beds currently in Ward 3 will be retained elsewhere on its Steelhouse Lane site.

"Currently there are 10 bed spaces for CAMHS and that's what we will have on this site in future. They are not going to be cut or scrapped," he said.

"I hope in a few weeks the other interested parties will be pleased with the best solution we've come up with."

Ward 3 will become the Wellcome Foundation's first paediatric research centre in Britain, after the trust was awarded a £920,000 grant by them.

Hospital bosses will announce where CAMHS beds will be moved to in the next few weeks.

Mr O'Connor spoke out days after Dr Mike Prendergast, a consultant psychiatrist who helped set up the CAMHS facility, resigned over the on-going row about the service's future. But he would not be drawn to comment on the shock resignation.

Dr Prendergast is the second senior medic to quit over fears about patients' safety if beds were cut and services merged at the hospital and its Parkview unit in Moseley. Last year Dr Gordon Bates quit, stating his position had become untenable after he voiced concerns about the trust's plans.

Mr O'Connor said: "The staff on Ward 3 would understandably feel that what they want is the best possible solution for their patients."

Cancer, liver and renal wards are also being moved to other parts of the hospital.