Nursery World - Hospital nurseries in peril from cost-cutting

Three hospital nurseries look set to close if cost-cutting recommendations by University Hospitals of Leicester (UHL) are approved at a board meeting in June.

A report published by UHL, which has a budget deficit of £58m, recommends that the three settings - Poppies Day Nursery, based at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, Bluebells Day Nursery, based at Leicester General Hospital, and Buttercups Day Nursery, in Glenfield - should be closed to save the Trust £433,000 a year.

The report says, 'The parents using the nurseries are vehemently opposed to closure and we understand that for them and their children, not to mention the people working in the nurseries, this is a worrying time.'

However, it goes on, 'In the current funding climate, where the gap between the Trust's cash and Trust's costs is £58m, there is a responsibility to make sure that where money is spent, it is spent on the items and services which most benefit patients. To that end the paper recommends the nurseries are closed, while the Trust works hard to redeploy staff and support the parents using the nurseries to find alternative childcare arrangements.'

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