AN ERA ENDS; Walton hospital set to close its doors for ttie final time.Byline: EXCLUSIVE By MIKE HORNBY WALTON hospital will be closed by the end of the year. All remaining outpatient and surgery clinics at the Rice Lane site will be moved to Fazakerley. Aintree Hospitals Trust said the move is part of NHS NHS abbr. National Health Service NHS (in Britain) National Health Service policy to concentrate acute services at one location. Health bosses say the building could be available to other healthcare services in the future. The site is already partly developed as a housing estate and the remainder may be sold off to property developers earning millions for the local primary care trust. The hospital is used by 100,000 patients a year. Future services would be provided at a new pounds 30-40m elective care centre using funding from the pounds 1.3bn Merseyside Investment Strategy. Arrangements are also being made to deal with how patients will travel to Fazakerley instead of Walton including laying on extra bus services. Although services are run by Aintree Hospitals Trust, the Walton building is owned by North Liverpool Primary Care Trust which has been leading the review of the hospital's future and has given its recommendations to the Strategic Health Authority for Cheshire and Merseyside. Joanne Forrest, deputy chief executive of North Liverpool Primary Care Trust, said: "There has been no decision as yet regarding the future of the Walton site." An SHA SHA - Secure Hash Algorithm spokesman said: "The proposal is to move surgical, outpatient and diagnostic services diagnostic services, n.pl the imaging and laboratory capabilities available for determining the cause of an illness. at Walton hospital to new facilities at University Hospital Aintree (Fazakerley)." He added that the recommendation by the Aintree board has been backed by the PCT (Private Communications Technology) A protocol from Microsoft that provides secure transactions over the Web. See security protocol. and Liverpool council. The news is likely to cause concern among residents around Fazakerley who say the hospital is already too big. Cllr Ron Gould, chairman of the council's health scrutiny panel, said: "The condition for allowing this to go ahead is that the trust does something to make it easier for patients and relatives to get to Fazakerley." ECHO Essentials PATIENTS attend Walton for consultations for general breast surgery, clinical haematology, general dermatology, diabetic medicine, ear, nose and throat, endocrinology, gastroenterology, maxillo-facial surgery, nephrology nephrology Branch of medicine dealing with kidney function and diseases. An understanding of kidney physiology is important not only in treating kidney disease but in knowing the effect of drugs, diet, and hypertension on kidney disease, and vice versa. , ophthalmology, oral surgery, palliative medicine, thoracic medicine, upper gastrointestinal surgery Upper gastrointestinal surgery, often referred to as upper GI surgery, refers to a practise of surgery that focuses on the upper parts of the gastrointestinal tract. , urology and vascular surgery. For healthcare information, call the Aintree NHS Trust on 0151-525 5900. Post your memories of Walton hospital on our special messageboard at ECHO website www.icliverpool.co.uk/walton Send your memories to us by writing to Walton hospital memories, Editorial, Liverpool ECHO, PO Box 48, Old Hall Street, Liverpool L69 3EB CAPTION(S): CLOSURE: All remaining Walton hospital outpatient and surgery clinics will shut this year |
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