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Hospital nursery to close after last-ditch attempt by parents fails

Management Provision
A Staffordshire hospital nursery will close in the New Year because the NHS Trust can no longer afford to fund it.

Since May, Nursery World has reported on the loss of half a dozen hospital nurseries, closed because of NHS cost-cutting.

Buttercups Nursery, based at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire (UHNS) in Stoke-on-Trent, will shut in January because the UHNS Executive says it can no longer afford to pay the £225,000 annual subsidy.

Parents had been given until 10 November to come up with alternative funding solutions. The board considered their proposals, along with continuing to operate the nursery at a loss until April 2012, but decided that neither would be financially sustainable.

The closure of the 40-year-old nursery affects 65 children and leaves 22 members of staff without jobs.

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