New permanent home for successful Mansfield community hospital unit

The Sherwood Community Unit was opened by Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Trust in a former care home on Park Road in May 2022, to provide “transitional care for patients who had received treatment and medical attention, but were ready to be discharged once their care packages with care homes and community teams had been arranged”.

One year on, the unit has cared for nearly 800 patients and played a vital part in freeing-up hospital beds for those who need them most.

And it has been so successful in “providing a solution to patient discharge pressures” at the trust’s three hospitals – Sutton’s King’s Mill, Mansfield Community and Newark – it has been decided to retain the facility and transfer it to a permanent home at Mansfield Community Hospital, “as a more cost-effective use of resources”.

Phil Bolton, SFH chief nurse, said: “The unit has had a positive impact in alleviating winter pressures and keeping essential NHS services running.

“By relocating the unit into Mansfield Community Hospital, we will be able to transfer patients even more easily and efficiently while retaining the same innovative approach to continuing to care for our patients in the best possible way.”

It will now be known as the Chatsworth Centre in its new home.

Ros Roddy, Mansfield Community Hospital matron, said: “W look forward to continuing to help patients and their families as they prepare to return to the place they call home. We know this is the best possible place for people to continue their recovery.”