The boss of Dorset HealthCare has spoken about the controversial decision to shake-up NHS community services – and how in many cases a hospital bed is not the right place for patients.

Trust chief executive Ron Shields spoke after final decisions were made in NHS Dorset CCG's Clinical Services Review.

Mr Shields said: “We fully support the ambition for high quality, integrated community services for the people of Dorset, and welcome the CCG’s decisions as a very positive step forward.

“Creating community hubs, where physical and mental health services work closely together, will lead to better outcomes for our patients and those around them. In many parts of Dorset we are already supporting people to stay in their own homes and to live independently, where they may have previously needed to stay in hospital.

“In many cases a hospital bed is not the right place for people who are more frail and elderly and moving to more integrated community services will give us greater flexibility in meeting people’s individual needs. Having multi-skilled teams based out in the community, working more closely with colleagues in social care, is undoubtedly the way forward."

As reported, under plans to ‘provide care closer to home', Portland Hospital faces closure as the NHS Dorset CCG considers opening a community hub without beds at a different site.

Westhaven Hospital in Weymouth will lose beds once a new hub is established at Weymouth Community Hospital, while Wareham Hospital will become a community hub without beds.

Community hubs with beds will be located at hospitals including Swanage and Blandford.

In a further controversial move, health bosses also voted to close the Linden mental health unit at Westhaven Hospital after moving all 15 of its beds to St Ann’s Hospital in Poole and creating four more beds at the Forston clinic near Dorchester. The decision is down to high demand for beds in the east of the county.

Mr Shields added: “The decisions are also very positive for the future of mental health services in Dorset and a commitment to delivering the very best quality of care. They are innovative, ambitious and a significant improvement on the current arrangements, based on what service users have told us they need.”