PATIENTS with highly specialised needs due to dementia are being transferred away from Weymouth as health chiefs consider options for a county-wide service.

The Chalbury Unit at Weymouth Community Hospital will no longer be taking patients, with extra beds provided instead at the Alderney Hospital in Poole.

Of the three patients currently at the eight-bed unit, one will be transferred to Poole and staff are ‘actively working on residential packages of care’ for the other two.

Eight part-time and 24 full-time staff are affected and are being consulted over the changes but Dorset HealthCare have said they are ‘committed’ to avoiding redundancies.

Linda Boland, locality director for Dorset HealthCare, said all inpatient care beds for older people with dementia will now be provided at Alderney Hospital in Poole while options are considered for providing specialist dementia services across the county. Dorset HealthCare is working with the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) on the county-wide review of dementia services.

A new intermediary care service has also been launched for Weymouth, Portland and West Dorset, based on an existing model in East Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole which focuses on providing care at home.

Mrs Boland said the changes at the Chalbury Unit are not connected to the overhaul of services at the community hospital on Melcombe Avenue.

The new-look urgent care centre is set to officially open its doors on Friday, July 1.

“There is a national and local shortage of registered nurses available to work with people with specialist dementia in-patient needs. Our priority is ensuring the people of Dorset receive safe and qualified services. We are in a position where we are not accepting admissions to the Chalbury Unit. Because of the staff shortages we are not in a position where we can provide the level of safe staff required from the end of June.

“Therefore we have taken the decision to transfer the beds that have been operating in the Chalbury Unit and locate them on the Alderney Hospital site and, at the same time, introduce a new intermediary care team service for the west of the county to provide an alternative to hospital admission.”

Transport will be provided for relatives and carers if their loved one is cared for in Poole, Mrs Boland said.

“We recognise that for someone living in the Weymouth area, travelling to Alderney could prove difficult and so we have committed to providing bespoke transport arrangements for relatives and carers.

“The environment and facilities are significantly superior to those at the Chalbury Unit.”

Consultations with staff are being carried out on a ‘one-to-one basis’ she added.

“We are absolutely committed to looking for solutions for individuals. We do not see this resulting in any redundancies and are working to ensure we can accommodate staff and are happy to provide retraining if they wish.”

A CQC report carried out in June last year found that the Chalbury Unit was ‘small, cramped and unfit for purpose’. 

Staffing issues were also noted, although the report commented that the trust was ‘working hard’ to address these. It also said staff had gone ‘above and beyond what could reasonably be expected to provide a good environment’, including using their own time and resources to decorate parts of the ward.