THE death knell has begun to sound for Skipton Hospital's Physical Rehabilitation Unit.

Staff have learned that the unit will "close temporarily" on November 21 and they will effectively be out of a job.

The news was announced the day after a public consultation meeting organised by the Craven, Harrogate and Rural District Primary Care Trust (CHARD).

The patients who would normally use the Skipton site for rehabilitation following a variety of illnesses will be cared for on the new stroke ward at Airedale Hospital in Steeton. But the staff at Skipton say it will be detrimental to their welfare.

Judy Goddard, a director of CHARD, told last Wednesday's meeting that the consultation was being carried out to obtain the views of concerned people.

But angry residents and patients said the hospital had forced the closure of the unit by creating the uncertainty of its future. Nurses with mortgages had been forced to seek employment elsewhere to the point where the unit could now no longer function.

They said there were inadequate rehabilitation facilities for people recovering from strokes after discharge from hospital at the new unit at Airedale.

Former Skipton PRU patient Lisa Lees said she was "disgusted" with Airedale NHS Trust: "You are only paying lip service on the whole consultation process because you have to," she told the meeting. "You have created the problems with staff levels."

She added: "I was a patient in the PRU unit last year. I was 35 years old with two young children and had had a stroke. I would not be standing here speaking if it wasn't for the Skipton PRU unit and the specialist care I was given."

Nurse Rachel Steventon added that while everyone accepted the new stroke unit at Airedale was a good facility, it did not provide adequate care for rehabilitation.