CAMPAIGNERS are calling for community hospitals in Dorset to be reopened as a matter of urgency to help the NHS face one of its toughest ever challenges.

As a 4,000 bed temporary hospital is built in London to accommodate patients with coronavirus, campaigners are urging the government to ensure Dorset's NHS is able to cope. As reported, to free up hospital beds, inpatients are currently being discharged, and operations cancelled.

Portland was one of several community hospitals in the county to have axed all beds. The facility reopened as a health hub.

Beds were also cut from community hospitals at Wareham and Ferndown, while Bridport Hospital had half of its beds closed.

Campaigners are now saying that reopening these community hospitals would help ease the pressure on the NHS as it faces an unprecedented crisis. Campaigners say there is now "no excuse" for not reinstating the closed beds.

Speaking on behalf of Defend Dorset NHS, Save Portland Beds and Keep Portland Hospital campaign groups, Giovanna Lewis said: "London’s Excel Centre is being converted to house 4000 beds – but what about us here in Dorset? We need crisis help too.

"Local nurses have told us there there is no excuse for the community hospital beds and wards that have been closed in past years not to be re-opened.

"Wards only take two to three days to clean and prepare. Staff can be hired from agencies if needed, and supported with volunteers. We have also been told that there is a need for somewhere safe to care for people who are suffering from dementia and mental illness, who have Covid-19, and need to be cared for away from the general population.

"Reinstating these community hospital wards is an ideal solution as they could be also used as local isolation units."

The campaign groups have written to Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group and Dorset HealthCare University Foundation Trust to ask for Government emergency funding to be allocated so that the community hospitals can reopen, 'and to use all solutions to save as many lives as possible.'

"We have seen what urgent and dynamic action can be taken when necessary and we believe this is urgent for Dorset," Giovanna Lewis added.

Weymouth GP and councillor Dr Jon Orrell is backing the campaign to reopen community hospitals in Dorset, such as Portland Hospital.

Dr Orrell said: "The coronavirus infections are set to reach their peak in coming weeks. The threat is real and closing in. Yet the nation is rising and coming together in response.

"It was heartening to hear the claps, saucepans and car horns resounding across the town last Thursday. 750,000 volunteers have flocked to the urgent need to shield the most vulnerable; to distribute vital medicines and food to the isolated. 20,000 former NHS staff have returned to the fray.

"Industry is rising to the challenge by bringing engineering expertise to bear in stunningly fast innovation. Ventilators and positive pressure oxygen devices will save lives.

"In London, the Excel centre is being transformed into the massive new unit: Nightingale Hospital.

"In Dorset we have a quicker option. There are several community hospital sites that were only recently closed and could be rapidly reopened. The staff have returned. The need is coming. Let's all move ahead together, finding our common humanity and unity. Loving our neighbour has become real again. There is such a thing as society."

A spokesperson for Dorset HealthCare said: “We are doing all we can to protect the public and ensure essential services continue at this challenging, exceptional time.

“This includes considering how we can best organise our resources, and where and how we might be able to increase bed capacity in the county should it be needed. However, we must ensure these beds are in the most appropriate locations to be safely staffed with the right equipment and facilities to hand. We are working through a range of options so that we are fully prepared as the current situation unfolds.”