Patients temporarily moved from Weardale Community Hospital to transfer back now safety work has completed

Patients who were temporarily moved from Weardale Community Hospital to Bishop Auckland Hospital will be transferred back to the ward at Weardale now that essential safety work has been completed.

NHS Property Service, the owners of the Weardale Community Hospital building notified the Trust that the full fire alarm system needed to be replaced and that the work could not be carried out while patients were receiving care and services in the hospital.

This meant that for a temporary period which started on Monday 6 February patients who were being cared for on the ward at Weardale Community Hospital were safely transferred to ward 6 at Bishop Auckland Hospital to allow the works to take place.

The work on the fire alarm system has now been completed and the deep cleaning process is underway which means patients from ward 6 at Bishop Auckland Hospital can be safely transferred to Weardale Community Hospital over the weekend of March 4 and 5.

Noel Scanlon, Executive Director of Nursing for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are hugely grateful the support and patience from patients and their families and our colleagues during this temporary relocation over the past four weeks.

"We were informed by NHS Property Services that the fire alarm system at Weardale Community Hospital needed to be replaced. This is an important safety feature and we were supportive of the need to undertake this work. Unfortunately, due to the level of disruption likely, and to ensure that the works are carried out in the safest way possible, we needed to temporary move patients out of the hospital while the work was carried out.

"We successfully and safely moved patients from Weardale Community Hospital to Ward 6 at Bishop Auckland Hospital over the weekend of 4^th and 5^th of February. And now the work has been completed, we will safely transfer patients from Ward 6 at Bishop Auckland Hospital to Weardale Community Hospital.

"We will do this in a planned way using patient transport services and supported by our own colleagues to minimise distress and make sure our patients are as comfortable as possible during the move over the weekend of 4^th and 5^th of March.

"Our nursing and therapy teams also moved with our patients so there was a consistency to their care and familiar faces to support them during the temporary move."

The works on the fire system replacement began on Monday 6 February following the patient moves to Bishop Auckland Hospital. Weardale Community Hospital will be taken through a full cleaning programme to ensure it is ready to be re-opened to patients this coming weekend.

Louise West, Community Matron, for County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust, added: "We are thrilled that this essential work has now been completed and we are hugely grateful for everyone's understanding and patience.

"We understand this may cause some distress or upset to our patients or their loved ones and would like to apologise for this and any inconvenience. We will continue to speak with patients and families in the lead up to the move back to Weardale and are happy to answer any questions and to ensure they feel supported."