A GROUP of doctors facing a £7.7m funding gap has unveiled plans to close a community hospital in one town and axe a rehabilitation ward in another.

Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby clinical commissioning group (CCG) has launched a public consultation on permanently shutting the Lambert Memorial Hospital, in Thirsk, after 126 years, and the Rutson Rehabilitation Unit, at the Friarage Hospital, Northallerton.

The document states treatment for patients who have suffered strokes or needing palliative care would instead be provided in numerous local settings, such as extra care supported housing schemes.

It states the cost of a community hospital inpatient stay is on average £229 a day, while the cost of a step up step down bed stay averages at £142 a day.

The Northern Echo: CONTROVERSIAL PROPOSALS: The Friarage Hospital in Northallerton

The document states: "The NHS is facing significant financial challenges and innovative new models of care are required otherwise issues such as this will not be addressed."

It added while the population of Richmondshire and Hambleton aged 65 and over was set to increase from 28,600 to around 37,700 by 2021, its aim was create high quality care, closer to home for the people of Hambleton, Richmondshire and Whitby, especially given the challenges of operating in a rural environment.

The move has been announced ten months after the Thirsk hospital closed as South Tees NHS Trust said it could not recruit nurses to work there, sparking claims the trust was shutting the infirmary by stealth.

Two other options for the services outlined by the CCG include doing nothing, meaning the Lambert would remain closed and additional beds would continue to be provided alongside community rehabilitation beds on the Rutson Ward or to reopen the Lambert, find a care provider to replace South Tees and continue with the Rutson Ward.

Councillor Jim Clark, chairman of North Yorkshire's scrutiny of health committee, said it was clear the option to permanently close the hospital and the ward was the CCG's preferred option and it appeared the odds were "very heavily stacked against keeping the hospital and the ward open".

He added the CCG would face a significant challenge finding the resources to support the its preferred option.

Cllr Clark said: "It does seem that this is the beginning of various cuts to services we will see."

Thirsk councillor Gareth Dadd described the consultation exercise as "shambolic" and called on the CCG to "come clean with greater clarity and detail as to how they hope to provide, and in what environment, the step-up and step-down care, along with the palliative care, as soon as possible". He added the CCG needed to provide feasibility studies on the possibility of a hospice-type facility for the area.

He said: "I would urge all residents,to make their voice heard and respond strongly to the consultation."