Hospital site 'for sale' row (From Stroud News and Journal)

Hospital site 'for sale' row

BIDDERS fighting to save Standish Hospital for public use expressed their anger this week after the Department of Health put the mothballed site back on the market.

Standish Mutual Care (SMC) had entered negotiations with rival bidders in the latest stage of their two-year battle to win ownership of the historic site.

But they were amazed to find 'for sale' boards back up at the 32-acre hospital in recent weeks in a surprise move by Lord Warner, Secretary of State for Delivery.

Stroud MP David Drew, a key figure in the 17-year fight to save the hospital and a supporter of the SMC bid, said: "This is not going back to square one but it is more of the same.

"I am not happy it has come back again but the reality is we have a big battle on our hands."

SMC wants to run the hospital as a ground-breaking mutual trust, where different services are run by a variety of not-for-profit companies and directed by a community board.

Project director Dr Karin von Degenberg branded the re-marketing a "waste of money".

She and Mr Drew led a delegation which met Lord Warner in August and were told they should pursue sharing the site with commercial rivals.

"We were told they may have to re-market it - but only if we could not find another bidder who was interested in working with us," she said.

"We have got another bidder to talk to us and say 'yes we are interested in working with you'. Now suddenly, without giving us a chance, they do this." "We are as firmly committed to getting the site as ever."

Nigel Davey, chair of campaign group Save Our Standish, called for details of the commercial bidders, until now shrouded in secrecy, to be brought into the open.

"If they are going to mess us about then all the cards should be on the table," he said.

A spokesman for Lord Warner was unavailable for comment yesterday.