Hospital nursery to close its doors (From Cotswold Journal)

Hospital nursery to close its doors

11:00am Thursday 11th October 2012 in News

CASH-strapped health bosses will close a popular Evesham nursery in a bid to save money.

Staff and parents have been told that Noah’s Ark Nursery, which is based on the site of the town’s community hospital, will shut on December 21 because Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust say it is no longer economically viable.

A petition calling for the nursery to be saved has already attracted 160 signatures and parents are talking to the health body about running the nursery with staff as a not-for-profit co-operative.

Chris Dew, whose son attends the Waterside nursery, described parents as “devastated”.

He said: “The staff are wonderful. He’s really come on leaps and bounds since he’s been there. We understand it’s closing due to financial problems because the staff are paid on NHS wages and because of that it loses £70,000 a year.

“It seems the NHS have made a decision and they’re sticking to it regardless. It makes me really angry they didn’t consult us first because everyone is perfectly happy to pay higher fees to cover the wages.

“We did a poll at a meeting with Stephen Coleman (deputy director of service delivery) last week and the 20 parents there all said they were perfectly happy with that.

“There’s the possibility of a co-operative. I’m talking with other parents and staff. It could all work out if they could lease us the building.”

One parent, who did not want to be named, said: “It didn’t just come as a shock to us, but to the staff as well. We received a letter in the post last Thursday and when I went to commiserate the staff on Thursday night, they said they were only told about it at 7pm the night before.”

A spokesperson for Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust, said: “The crèche is not economically viable for the trust and our priority has to be patient care. We will be offering parents the opportunity to meet and discuss their concerns.

“The trust appreciates this is a difficult situation for the parents and staff and is why the notice period of three months has been given.

For more information visit savenoahsark.org