Lease plans at hospital
The ground floor of Cannock Chase Hospital could be put up for lease by health bosses after a review over the use of space.
It is thought the rooms could be used by South Staffordshire PCT in a move which would anger protesters campaigning against the trust's plans to build a health centre on Cannock Park.
Councillors and members of the Friends of Cannock Park have long argued the proposed health centre off Cardinal Way in Cannock should have been incorporated into the hospital all along.
If the bottom of Cannock Hospital is leased out then services currently housed there could be forced to move or relocate outside the hospital.
Among the services that could be affected include a specialist rehabilitation unit which helps patients who have had strokes or serious accidents.
Bosses at the Mid Staffordshire General Hospitals NHS Trust said today no final decision had been made and that leasing out the bottom floor of the hospital to the PCT was only one option.
Chief executive of the trust Martin Yeates said: "We are currently reviewing the use of space. Our aim of treating patients as day cases and the growth in health treatment provided in the community mean that we need to plan the best way of organising our services.
"Both of these trends will lead to fewer people needing to stay in hospital. We have a duty to plan ahead to make the best use of spare capacity. We are at the early stages and are looking at what the best options might be."
Jean McCarthy, a volunteer teacher at the rehab unit, said: "Staff have been told they will be re-located but nobody knows where to yet. It is time for Cannock people to start fighting for their local hospital before we lose it altogether."
