Protest over dementia ward closure

NHS campaigners held a protest outside of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Gateshead to criticise what they called “a direct cut to frontline services’ which “must be challenged’

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The protest follows the closure of ward 23 - a dementia ward - on August 20 this year.

Bosses at the Gateshead Health NHS Trust announced the closure following a formal consultation period with “colleagues, partners and stakeholders” earlier in the summer.

The move comes amid financial pressures - the trust's plan for the current financial year includes a requirement for £32.8m in cost-saving measures.

When confirming the closure, bosses confirmed “this forms part of a broader move towards supporting patients in the community”

At a meeting of Gateshead Council’s health and wellbeing committee this week, John Whalley of Keep Our NHS Public highlighted that the group wanted to see the ward reopened.