Community fears temporary changes to x-ray services may become permanent
At North Cotswolds Community Hospital in Gloucestershire, England, x-ray services were reduced due to ongoing staffing issues. There are now fears that this temporary change will be made permanent.
According to a report by Gloucestershire Live, a petition with 5,000 signatures demanding that x-ray services be reinstated was given to Gloucestershire's NHS bodies.
Representatives from Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust and NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group noted in a statement that their chief priority is “to strike the right balance between safety of acute specialist services and local access to routine x-ray as far as possible.”
"Through effective joint working, we have been able to maintain weekly x-ray provision at all the local community hospitals,” they said. "We have also scheduled x-ray availability to support outpatient clinics so that as many people as possible can access services as normal and waiting times do not increase. Importantly, all partners are committed to restoring services as quickly as possible. This includes options to improve recruitment, whilst retaining the excellent staff we already have in place.”
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As a senior news writer for TriMed, Subrata covers cardiology, clinical innovation and healthcare business. She has a master’s degree in communication management and 12 years of experience in journalism and public relations.