A MULTI-MILLION pound plan to redevelop Chard Hospital has been scrapped.

The news came after reports that the community hospital had been placed under a three-month consultation period - with the inpatient ward believed to have been at risk of closure, although this was denied by the Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, which manages the facility.

Nick Broughton, the trust’s chief executive, and Andy Heron, chief operating officer at the trust, both said there is no such trial or consultation taking place.

“We have no plans to close Chard Community Hospital,” said Mr Broughton.

“It remains an important hub for providing a range of community services to people in South Somerset and we continue to invest in the site.

“Recently, the Trust Board of Somerset Partnership decided it can no longer afford the full redevelopment originally planned for the hospital site, a project which was costed at £5.1 million when approved in 2014.

“While it is disappointing that we cannot proceed with full redevelopment, we think this decision the right one given the continuing pressures on NHS budgets.

“The scale of the full development is no longer viable.

“As part of this decision, the Board has identified that funds will be needed to deliver a refurbishment programme for the existing buildings, which we anticipate will be in the region of £500,000 over the next three years.”

Chard & Ilminster News:

CHANGE OF PLANS: Chard Community Hospital and, inset, Nick Broughton

Tony Prior, treasurer for the League of Friends of Chard and District Hospital, said: “We would be most disappointed if Chard Hospital is not set to play the pivotal role that was envisioned for it just a year ago.

“We are aware that all trusts are reviewing their finances in light of government pressure.”

Plans to redevelop the community hospital were first priced at £4.2million.


RELATED: From 2013, £4.2million refurb for Chard Hospital


They were approved at a meeting of the board of Somerset Partnership NHS Foundation Trust in April 2013.

The work was expected to have started within two or three years of that decision being made.

By 2015, the expected cost of redevelopment had risen to £4.8million, but Somerset Partnership still approved the funding required.


RELATED: From 2015, funding secured and improvements could start next year


Built in 1929, the original two-storey section of the hospital has had a series of single-storey prefabricated extensions and small annexes added over the years.

In addition to the hospital’s 20 in-patient beds, it has out-patient and musculoskeletal clinics, physiotherapy and occupational therapy services, a Minor Injury Unit (MIU), and diagnostic x-ray and ultrasound facilities.

The trust officially took over Chard Community Hospital on April 1, 2013.