A CAMPAIGNER is considering calling a public meeting to see if people would get behind a project to “buy back” and run Felixstowe's Bartlet Hospital.Mike Ninnmey said the town should not let the building go if it could help it - and felt sure it would be needed in the years ahead.
A CAMPAIGNER is considering calling a public meeting to see if people would get behind a project to “buy back” and run Felixstowe's Bartlet Hospital.
Mike Ninnmey said the town should not let the building go if it could help it - and felt sure it would be needed in the years ahead.
He said: “We have an increasing elderly population which will continue to grow, and we know a number of our residential homes have suffered problems, so there is no doubt we will need these bed spaces at the Bartlet in the future.
“When that building is sold for some other use it will be lost forever, and the health services neither have the will or the cash to build another facility - and never will have again.
“I think the time has come to consider whether we should re-establish the Bartlet Trust that was set up by Dr John Bartlet to provide the convalescent care which he wanted provided in perpetuity.”
It would be a complicated process and one which would need the support from GPs as well as an input from the health service.
Mr Ninnmey said the immediate concern was the timescale.
He said: “I have a preliminary booking for a venue for a possible meeting in January because with Christmas that is probably the earliest we can get people together, and we may need to look at a court injunction to stop the sale.
“But we will need to have the backing of the public on this - people need to support such a project and need to be prepared to get involved in a trust and all that would entail.”
Dr Bartlet left money in his will for the hospital and a trust to be set up to keep it running. Health chiefs have been unable to say what happened to the money, though the Bartlet was transferred to the NHS when it was set up in 1948.
What would you like to see the Bartlet use for in future? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail EveningStarLetters@eveningstar.co.uk
WEBLINKS: www.boshier.com
www.suffolkpct.nhs.uk
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