The scandal of the missing hospital
IN 2005, a reconfiguration of healthcare provision in North East Bristol was agreed.
An acute hospital was planned for Southmead, together with a community hospital at Frenchay.
Twenty one years later, we are still waiting for the community provision on the Frenchay site.
Predictable population increases have been ignored for years, leaving hospitals overwhelmed and rehabilitation services unprepared.
Recently Southmead Hospital declared a “critical incident”, yet again, as there were no free beds and patients were advised to go elsewhere – the Bristol Royal Infirmary or South Bristol Community Hospital.
Most of the time, 33% of Southmead’s acute beds are ‘blocked’ due to lack of the provision which would enable patients to move on.
When Frenchay was demolished we lost 540 acute beds, in addition to the 200 beds we should have had in the new hospital.
In 2005, the population of South Gloucestershire was 250,000. It is now 306,332, and there has been a 22% increase of people aged 65 years and over.
We had an excellent plan for the Frenchay site in 2010: it was formally approved but never delivered.
Work began again in 2012, with a facility due to open in 2018, but it did not happen.
In spring 2025 we were told by the chair of Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board that the business case for Frenchay would go ahead.
Now we have been told this has been stopped by Wes Streeting’s changes.
Our MPs are curiously silent on the lack of healthcare provision and broken promises we have endured.
Our representatives on the BNSSG ICB Board have, we have ascertained, made not one documented statement on the issue of Frenchay Community Hospital or the lack of it.
There appears to be stalemate on this issue but no one is held to account or seems interested.
We have no intention of letting this matter rest.
The public deserves better care than we are experiencing at present.
Barbara Harris
Save Frenchay Community Hospital Group
Thanks for act of kindness
IN July I was hospitalised at Southmead, then in rehabilitation in Yate, until my release in November.
During this period I was desperate for a haircut, which apparently can’t be arranged by the NHS.
You can imagine, in that time my hair got pretty long, and when I got home I couldn’t go out.
Out of the blue I had a text from my barber, Paul of Masters Barber Shop in Downend, asking where I was and saying they hadn’t seen me for a while.
When I explained, he offered to come and pick me up after hours, in his own time, and take me to the shop and give me a haircut.
I took him up on this and, as good as his word, he carried it out as promised and took me home again.
I thought I should bring this supreme act of kindness to your notice, as it goes to prove there are some nice people in Downend!
John Briggs
Bromley Heath
Why consult, then ignore result?
SOUTH Gloucestershire Council recently carried out a ‘public consultation’ on a new cycle path and reduced speed limits on the ring road between the M32 and MoD.
The police, three local councillors and 113 members of the public all objected to the reduction, with only 13 members of the public approving.
The council listed the following as justification for the speed limit reduction:
• Improving air quality (no study of current pollution provided and no projection of improvements when the limit is reduced)
• Man made climate change and reducing CO2 emissions (despite every doomsday climate prediction failing to come true)
• Improving road safety (cited 20 minor crashes since 2020, however they did not provide the total number of successful journeys, which I expect are in the millions.)
The final justification was that the total cost of the scheme is £15 million, of which they have already spent £7.8m.
Therefore, if they stopped now, the £7.8m already spent will be “wasted”.
Why is the council asking for public opinion if the outcome of the consultation is predetermined and they have already wasted half the money?
The phrase “no taxation without representation” comes to mind – if the council is not prepared to conduct itself in line with the wishes of the public it is supposed to represent, they should mind when we refuse to pay council tax.
Tom Williams
We’ll take your tree
THE St Peter’s Hospice Christmas tree collection service will return for another year this festive season.
The hassle-free service offers residents a convenient and eco-friendly way to dispose of real trees, while helping to raise necessary funds for the city’s only adult hospice.
From January 9-11, volunteers will be collecting trees directly from doorsteps across the region, including BS16 postcodes in Downend, Emersons Green, Fishponds, Frenchay and Pucklechurch.
In return, residents are asked to make a suggested donation of £20-£25 per tree.
Every penny helps St Peter’s Hospice continue supporting patients and their families as they deal with serious illness and bereavement.
Last year, our amazing supporters helped us raise £20,000, as we collected over 1,000 trees from doorsteps across the area.
This year, we hope to raise even more.
The trees will be recycled sustainably, turned into wood chippings to be used as mulch at local allotments, used as enrichment for animals at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, or converted into energy via a biomass boiler at Blaise Plant Nursery.
You can sign up online at tinyurl.com/h5yc6sze using your postcode.
Then leave your tree outside your home on January 9, and St Peter’s Hospice will handle the rest.
Caitlin Logan
St Peter’s Hospice
Crittall Windows
AN article in December’s Voice about the closure of Panoramic window and door company in Mangotsfield referred to the company’s association with Crittall Windows.
We have been asked to make it clear that, while Panoramic was a distributor of Crittall products during the 2000s, this association was terminated in 2021 and the company never traded as or was allowed to brand itself as Crittall Windows.
Steel window and door manufacturer Crittall Windows continues to trade.
We are happy to set the record straight.