A plan for the future of Wycombe Hospital needs to be published "to put the public at ease", a health campaigner has warned after news of a ward closure at Wycombe Hospital.

It comes after the BFP revealed earlier today that health bosses are planning to close an entire ward just days after a petition for better health services was delivered to Downing Street.

Ward 5B, which cares for ‘frail older people’ is under threat from closure, with the service being replaced with a £1 million package of "community care".

Instead, older people will be able to recover in the "comfort and safety" of their own home or a nursing home.

County councillor Julia Wassell, who sits on the health scrutiny committee panel, publicly demanded an answer from the Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Health Trust board at a public meeting this morning.

Speaking about the ward, she said: "There are many residents who have had experience of Ward 5B over the years. Some like myself who have been carers of older relatives will have valued the respite it gave."

Cllr Wassell asked for assurance this morning that a public consultation would be carried out prior to its closure and insisted the public should be informed, and was told that consultation about services at Wycombe Hospital would be carried out with the public "as and when necessary".

She told the BFP around 260 people used the ward last year, of which 68 per cent were from Wycombe and Marlow, adding: "If a frail elderly person is not put on leave from a hospital ward and has a crisis such as a fall, where will they be re-admitted to?"

Bucks Healthcare Trust insists between three-quarters and all of the patients in the ward do not need to remain in hospital, calling it "unnecessary", and says the care packages would support patients to remain with "dignity and independence" in their own homes or care home.

It also confirmed the ward is no longer taking patients as those fit for discharge, who would have previously waited to be discharged in the ward, are now instead being supported in the community.

It said this was temporary while they conducted the pilot and made a final decision.

Neil Macdonald, chief operating officer for Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust, said: "We have decided to pilot a six-month project to reinvest the resources which had been used to maintain Ward 5B into providing that community support.

"Patients who are well enough to be discharged are now being supported in the community through visits from our community nurses and therapists where appropriate rather than waiting unnecessarily on Ward 5B.

"We believe this model of care, which is an essential part of the local and national vision for the future of healthcare, will be effective in tackling delayed discharges and realising our ambition to support more people closer to their own homes."

This comes after a 10,000-strong petition was delivered to Downing Street on Friday as part of the Hand Back Our Hospital campaign, which wants fairer funding for the NHS in Bucks.

And after services including the A&E have been centralised to Stoke Mandeville and John Radcliffe in recent years, campaigners worry the move to close more of the hospital would be a step in the wrong direction.

Cllr Wassell added: "We see closures and transfers of services, but do not hear about the outcomes in patient care for Wycombe patients in other hospitals or Trusts."

Ward 5B at Wycombe Hospital is a 20-bed, sub-acute ward for frail older people who are "medically fit for discharge" but require some form of additional support in the community and are waiting for that support to be put in place.

The proposal will go under the microscope at a Health and Adult Social Care Select Committee (HASC) meeting next month where cllr Wassell says she will raise questions about the speed of discharge from the ward as well as whether community team staffing levels will be adequate enough to cope with the changes.

Mr Macdonald said: “Wycombe Hospital has a strong and vibrant future, particularly with the continued expansion of our specialist stroke and cardiac services."