A WARRINGTON Hospital ward held up as a national model for the rehabilitation of elderly patients is to shut at the end of the month due to funding cuts.

The short-term assessment and rehabilitation (STAR) ward at the hospital will close at the end of April after Warrington Clinical Commissioning Group pulled the plug on funding for its 24 beds.

Primarily used by elderly patients who had been in the Lovely Lane hospital for long periods of time, the STAR unit helped to rehabilitate those who were medically-fit for discharge but needed extra support before they could go home.

Hospitals around the country had used the STAR ward as a model after it saw success in lowering readmission rates.

It is understood that no jobs will be lost as a result of the closure and staff members will be moved to other hospital wards while alternative care placements in the community will be sought for patients.

Warrington CCG said that its funding had only been a temporary measure over the last year and that the STAR ward had not achieved aims that had been set out for it.

A spokesman said: “The main aim of this additional short-term provision was to assist the trust in dealing with challenges around patient flow and discharge.

“The short-term funding was initially agreed for six months and then extended for an additional six months to support the trust further over the winter period.

“Given the end of the winter pressures period, the STAR pathway will come to an end as planned and a robust management exit plan is being progressed.

“A whole system evaluation of the STAR pathway has been undertaken – this evaluation has shown that unfortunately the STAR pathway did not fully achieve the outcomes which were specified at the start.

“That said, the learning and experience of the hospital-based STAR has contributed to the redesign of intermediate care services which will provide a more cost-effective, quality model of care which all agencies including the hospital are working together to deliver.

“Warrington CCG is also working with partners and providers and has committed additional investment to support the redesign of out-of-hospital services.

“We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the staff who have been involved in supporting the STAR pathway for all their hard work over the past 12 months.”

A spokesman from Warrington Hospital said the ward had helped with ‘bed-blocking’ problems.

They said: “It is widely recognised that all hospitals are under strain, partly because of so called bed blocking – the STAR ward went some way to alleviating this problem.

“The trust is currently working with all partners, including commissioners and local authorities, to find care for the remaining patients on the STAR ward but we have not so far been provided with any information regarding alternative care provision or new out-of-hospital services.”

One staff member working on the ward told the Warrington Guardian that they were saddened by the news of its closure.

They said: “It is very sad news for everyone who has been involved to build a good, professional working team.

“During the last year we have collected so many cards from our patients which proved our job was professional, successful and well-regarded.

“After a year when everything has worked nearly perfectly we are shutting.

“We are not losing our jobs because we will work on other wards but the STAR ward won’t be shining anymore.”