A PATIENT had to be treated in a hospital toilet due to overcrowded wards, a meeting heard today, as Buckinghamshire health bosses were grilled over service changes.

Sheryl Pope, an NHS strategy director, was outlining the drive to take more healthcare out of acute hospitals and “into the community”.

But a number of councillors challenged her, claiming the opposite has been happening - with community hospital beds being closed and clinics being centralised.

The Overview & Scrutiny Committee for Public Health Services heard how an 'under-used' gynaecology clinic at Buckingham Community Hospital had been moved to Stoke Mandeville, which was picked up by Wycombe councillor Wendy Mallen.

She said: “You're bringing things into Stoke, but there's such a lot of congestion there... One person had to be treated in the toilet. I'm wondering how quickly your going to change it.”

Buckingham councillor Hedley Cadd slammed the gynaecology transfer, saying he and his wife had to undertake a four-hour round trip to Stoke Mandeville for her 20 minute consultation.

Mrs Pope replied: “What you've described is where we are at the moment. I'm very aware of the Buckingham Hospital situation.”

She said the Buckingham clinic had been just 40 per cent utilised, adding: “If we've got a clinic which is 40 per cent full that means those clinics are being denied to somebody else.”

Mrs Pope's employer, Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, is the new name of the organisation in control of the county's hospitals. It arises from the merger of Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust with several community hospitals, as well as other services such as district nurses.

Mrs Pope, a joint director for strategy and system reform, said it is too early to give details on how the new trust will use the community hospitals, some of which are currently closed to overnight patients.

Angry Chalfont St Peter councillor, Bruce Allen, had pointed out that overnight beds at Chalfonts and Gerrards Cross Hospital have been closed since 2008, after a fire risk to patients was identified.

He said: “We've never had an answer from anyone of any intelligence to say what's going to happen. We had a community hospital with 29 beds and it served us well.

“We keep asking when it's going to be opened and we get nil answers. I've been to so many meetings and heard this nonsense. We can't get an answer from anyone.”

Mrs Pope said: “At the moment I can't give you a definitive answer... We see Chalfont as an important part of the jigsaw.”

Mike Appleyard, the chairman of the Buckinghamshire County Council committee, told Mrs Pope she has “a duty” to let people know about the future of the hospital.

He added: “Unfortunately there's always a reason for delaying it. All I'm saying is sorry, no longer. We expect you to be here within six months with some answers on the community hospitals.”