IT'S CALLED Wantage Community Hospital, with the emphasis on community. It was opened in 1927 and replaced Wantage Cottage Hospital in Belmont. It was funded by £15,000 raised by the community. Wantage Community Hospital became part of the NHS in 1948 and has been run by a variety of NHS bodies since then. It has been threatened twice before in 1998 and 2006 and has survived. Its minor injuries unit closed temporarily in 2002 and has yet to reopen. The hospital is now run by Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. It provides rehabilitation and palliative care for people who no longer require the services of an acute hospital but require greater support than can be provided in their home environment. It also provides maternity services.

Life in Wantage Community Hospital differs from that in an Oxford hospital in that it is centred on activities in the day rooms rather than the bed wards. It is focused on helping people regain the mobility and other skills necessary for independent living. While patients may take rests during the day as required, they are encouraged to get up, to dress and to interact socially through the day, having meals at the communal dining table. Staff provide personal care, entertainment and stimulation.

The trust now want to close our hospital until after the results of a public consultation to be held in the autumn because there have been some problems with bacteria in the water system. At the moment there is no evidence of bacteria, but they still want to close the hospital.

It’s part of the community: the local nature of the hospital is emphasised by the number of visits to patients from friends and colleagues. Many people don’t get to visit friends and family when they are in Oxford hospitals. For some it’s due to their own physical fragility or family commitments, for others it’s due to the incredible amount of time required to make such a visit. Having visitors really does raise the morale of the patient and speeds healing, but they need to be able to get there.

The trust say that while our hospital is closed they will move the in-patient care to Didcot, Wallingford and Abingdon and will provide support to enable patients and visitors to travel. As most bus services are being reduced or eliminated from July 20, this will be harder to achieve. Of course the trust say this is not their problem.

Maternity services will be provided at Wallingford and John Radcliffe in Oxford, but both of these are at least 40 minutes away and babies don't necessarily wait that long. As one mum said at the recent public meeting, she didn’t want to have her baby in a lay-by. As the trust says, this is not their problem.