Bartlet Closure Cruel ....Go away and die

2008 Felixstowe’s Fate

This superb home saved my mum's life

THE decision to close the Bartlet Convalescent Home in Felixstowe is an outrage.

Those behind this cruel plan do not deserve to sleep easily in their beds.

It is no overstatement to say that my mother's life has been saved on two occasions by this superbly managed and dedicatedly caring institution.

-After two bouts of serious illness when she was treated at Ipswich Hospital, my mother was moved to the Bartlet for convalescence.

At 93, she is now in despair at her prospects should she should find herself in a similar situation with no family or close friends nearby:

What is the PCT offering? The possibility of a daily "visit" by a travelling care team? That's pathetic,

and a long way short of the continuous attention that was available at the Bartlet.

The government's response is a double dose of hogwash. Yes, hooray for the new Felixstowe Hospital- but that will not provide Bartlet style convalescent care, will it?

The statement about the closure being "in line with the PCT's strategy to develop community-based care" is a classic of modern management claptrap. It is true, of course, and sounds good. What it actually means to frail patients in fear and pain after illness or surgery is: "Go away and die."

Bed-blocking in major hospitals is a problem that presumably the PCT does not wish to grow at Ipswich, Felixstowe or anywhere else, so patients will be moved out to situations in which their chances of recovery will be less than they were at the Bartlet.

No government or PCT spokesman will stand up to declare categorically that no one's chances of recovery will be compromised by the closure.

But given the very nature of the decision, I don't suppose their consciences will be troubled ... especially when the value of the Bartlet site is considered .

STEVE WOOD,

Upper Hartfield, East Sussex

Felixstowe community raising money for the Bartlet to no avail

Bartlet closure is cruel ...go away and die !

Another readers letter in the local press Jan 2008