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Our local hospitals

Community hospitals are small, bedded units that provide a range of services, including treatments, rehabilitation and end-of-life care. They play a crucial role in speeding up the process of patients leaving acute hospitals and they can also prevent people from having to go into hospital in the first place, albeit to a lesser extent. Medical cover is provided by local GPs, while nursing and therapy services are delivered by staff from South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT). 

In South Warwickshire, there are two community hospitals with hospital beds for community rehabilitation purposes:

  • Ellen Badger Hospital in Shipston on Stour. (Currently closed for redevelopment and beds temporarily relocated to Leamington Spa Hospital)
  • Nicol Unit at Stratford Hospital

 

Over time, the identity and services of both community hospitals have evolved, shaped by patient needs, staff expertise, and local demand. However, recent redevelopment works have resulted in only one operational community hospital, Stratford upon Avon, while building work continues on the Ellen Badger site. The beds usually located at Ellen Badger were temporarily relocated in January 2022 to Leamington Spa Hospital.

In addition to these two community hospitals, South Warwickshire also benefits from a dedicated rehabilitation hospital, the Leamington Spa Hospital. This hospital provides rehabilitation support for patients recovering from complex conditions like neurological disorders, major trauma, and strokes.

It is renowned for its Neuro Rehabilitation Centre, offering a mixture of different services tailored to improve patient independence and quality of life. As well as the temporarily relocated community hospital beds from Shipston, they also have beds for stroke rehabilitation and brain injury.

Both the Nicol Ward in Stratford Hospital and Leamington Spa Hospital offer the NHS the ability to ‘flex’ bed provision – adding extra beds during times of significant system pressure. This gives us a greater ability to ensure patients can receive the care they need and meet demand. These beds may be added to specialist wards, such as community rehabilitation wards, but they are not specialist beds and the patients on these additional beds do not receive rehabilitation support. This is not possible at the Ellen Badger site due to the distance from emergency clinical services and lack of consultant-led support. The footprint of the Ellen Badger site is now limited to 12 beds, which further prevents the ability to flex beds.

 

Stratford Hospital

The hospital is divided across two buildings with an Ophthalmology Unit, the Rigby Cancer Unit, an outpatient pharmacy and Health and Wellbeing hub spread across a three storey building. Outpatient Services, a Minor Injuries Unit (MIU) and the Nicol Unit are housed at the original site. The Nicol Unit is a ward of community rehabilitation beds which care for patients who require admission prevention rehabilitation. It can also provide palliative care when appropriate. There is currently construction work to develop a dedicated Community Diagnostic Centre (CDC). The new unit will be a single-storey extension of the existing hospital building, which will house two MRI scanners and a CT scanner. The development will help to increase access to diagnostic services, supporting patients to get conditions diagnosed sooner and improve their treatment outcomes. The building is expected to open by spring 2025. 

Leamington Spa Hospital

The hospital supports a number of inpatient, outpatient, community, and information technology services.

Campion Ward currently delivers a community hospital service supporting community referrals from GPs and trusts for rehabilitation needs.

The Central England Rehabilitation Unit (CERU), is also located at the hospital, which is a national centre of excellence for rehabilitation.

Specialist Neuro Rehabilitation is provided to patients with acquired brain injuries (ABI) as well as stroke rehabilitation. ABI services are offered across Allsopp and Chadwick Wards, and Stroke Rehabilitation is delivered across the Feldon Ward as part of the Integrated Care System (ICS) Stroke pathway.

CERU also hosts four outpatient services - Specialist Neuro Rehabilitation, Spasticity Toxin Services, the Community Neuro Rehabilitation Team (specialising in multiple sclerosis pathways of care), and a multidisciplinary Complex Neuro Rehabilitation Team (supporting the local community and regional major trauma pathway).

The Integrated Musculoskeletal Service is also based at the hospital site.

Ellen Badger Hospital, Shipston

Ellen Badger Hospital is currently closed for patient services due to extensive refurbishment works.

The new site is going to provide enhanced clinical spaces for hospital and community services, bringing more specialties and clinics closer to the local communities in and around Shipston.

The new Health and Wellbeing Centre will offer wellbeing space for community partners to deliver services and activities aligned to supporting the prevention agenda.

There will be an outpatient suite and treatment rooms for specialist nurses and other health professionals. Specialties that were previously run from the site will return, including Heart Failure Nurses, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Audiology, ENT, and specialist Parkinson’s Disease nurses. 

The building will also offer shared spaces for community nursing teams. SWFT continue to work with other potential organisations, such as Shipston Home Nursing and Shipston Medical Centre, to see if there is space that they can make use of. 

The Ellen Badger Hospital site previously hosted 16 community rehabilitation beds. However, the building works have meant those beds have been temporarily moved to Leamington Spa Hospital.