Trustees from a community nursing home in Ellesmere say they could help ease the current NHS bed-blocking crisis.

Ellesmere Community Nursing Home, in Trimpley Street, Ellesmere, is looking to establish a partnership with the Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to utilise its eight beds.

Trust chairman Mike Sleigh said: “We have eight beds in the nursing home, right in the heart of Ellesmere, and we believe if the NHS used our beds as an alternative to patients remaining in acute hospital beds, it would be an extremely beneficial arrangement.

“Our facilities allow patients from the Ellesmere area to recuperate in a nursing environment that’s close to their families and friends, and there is also a fully operational on-site medical practice adjacent to our building.

“We’re urging the local health authority to consider using community facilities for patients who are well enough to leave hospital, but not yet well enough to go home, as a direct alternative to blocking expensive acute beds.”

Mr Sleigh also said the Trust has expressed an interest to Shropshire Council to provide rehabilitation facilities as and when required.

“Our nursing home beds are conveniently located to fill the void in north Shropshire between Whitchurch and Oswestry, and using them would allow patients to return to their local community yet still receive the very highest levels of care on their own doorstep,” he added.

The nursing home was established in 1994 in the town’s former cottage hospital after local residents helped to raise £250,000 to buy the building back from the NHS.

The site also includes the Ellesmere Medical Centre and Shropshire Council’s Meres Day Centre.