30386A WHEELCHAIR-BOUND pensioner will no longer be able to get medical care at his town hospital after services were cut.

Nelson Penny, 82, of Highfield Road, Bradford on Avon, has been attending the day hospital at the Drinkwater Unit, attached to Bradford Hospital, for about six years. The day hospital closed on Friday after West Wiltshire Primary Care Trust bosses reviewed services.

A spokesman for the PCT said the closure would be a temporary measure. The news comes in the wake of cutbacks at Melksham and Warminster hospitals.

Mr Penny, a diabetic who relies on a wheelchair after his leg was amputated, went to the hospital twice a week for medical attention and to be bathed. Now he will have to go to Brookside Day Centre in Melksham for treatment.

His daughter Linda Mitchell said: "Social services will be running people about to different places in the area to attend day care while our perfectly good, purpose built, excellent day centre will be idle.

"Behind the scenes services are being wound down and how long before they are lost forever?

"The NHS is slowly chipping away at hospital services. The care my father has received at this much needed and well used facility has been excellent, the nursing staff have been brilliant and to lose all this will be so sad."

She has written to West Wiltshire MP Dr Andrew Murrison to ask for support.

There was no public announcement about the centre closure but a spokesman said this was because it was a temporary measure.

John Cottle, chairman of Bradford Hospital's League of Friends, said: "I would like to see the Drinkwater Unit used to its full capacity."

He said it had been set up in the early 1970s from a legacy left by Mrs Drinkwater and had been part-funded by the League of Friends.

He said: "It's important that we have got local services. It's down to community hospitals to help out acute hospitals and to keep local services for local people."

A spokesman for West Wiltshire Primary Care Trust said the PCT has been reviewing services at the Drinkwater Unit and was hoping to relaunch the facility at the end of next month, changing its focus to become a rehabilitation centre.