ACUTE stroke beds at a Worcester hospital may not close after all as health bosses told a watchdog it was “just an idea”.

A formal document suggested that stroke beds at Worcestershire Royal Hospital may be closed and moved to the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch, but now health leaders say that it may not happen.

This was the message John Rostill, chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, had for members of the watchdog health overview and scrutiny committee.

As previously reported in your Worcester News Brendan Young, a shadow governor at the trust, revealed details of a proposal to close 16 acute stroke beds at Worcester while increasing the number of acute stroke beds at the Alexandra from 18 to 28.

Mr Young was concerned it would mean that patients in the south and west of the county would have further to travel for acute stoke care.

Mr Young, now suspended as a shadow governor and facing allegations of misconduct, asked NHS leaders how they could convince the people of Worcestershire the new system would be safe and effective.

Mr Rostill said the centralisation of stroke care at Redditch was just one of many ideas clinicians had discussed within the trust to improve stroke services, which the recent National Sentinel Stroke Audit shows is failing in several key areas of emergency stroke care – the care given immediately after a patient suffers a stroke rather than the later rehabilitation phase.

Mr Rostill said of the document: “It’s just an idea. It’s just a thought process that individuals, directors, hospitals go through before making formal recommendations to the board.

“There is nothing formal until it has been to the board. At any stage, at almost any time of year I would be able to give you correspondence or a letter or a report from a commissioner or group of commissioners saying we need to do things differently. Some of them may see the light of day. Some of them never do.”

However, Councillor Fran Oborski said: “The stroke rumours are causing serious concern. I have been approached by GPs concerned that they heard a rumour that you were centralising stroke services in Redditch.”

The trust is also scheduled to close the Aconbury unit at Worcestershire Royal Hospital on August 1. It helps with the rehabilitation of patients, including stroke patients. These beds will be provided in the community and people’s homes.

Your Worcester News was the only member of the media to attend the meeting.