CRITICALLY ill patients are being routinely transferred by ambulance from Bassetlaw Hospital to Doncaster under plans to decommission the smaller ICU by stealth, Unite said today . 

According to the union, a director at Doncaster & Bassetlaw Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said at a clinical governance meeting that transferring 50 per cent  of level-three patients — those ventilated or with multiple organ failure — would reduce the number of ICU patients at Bassetlaw.

The union warned that the 20-mile transfer risks patient safety and that the plans contradict the trust’s claims that Bassetlaw ICU nurses need to travel to work in Doncaster for at least two months a year or risk being deskilled.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “These statements confirm the nurses’ concerns that the trust’s plans are about decommissioning by stealth.

“They know this will not benefit patients or staff.”

Dr Nick Mallaband, acting executive medical director at the trust, said: “The ICU at Bassetlaw sees fewer critically ill patients than Doncaster, where clinicians manage more complex cases daily.

“By rotating our ICU nursing colleagues across both sites, we ensure they maintain the skills and experience needed to provide safe, high-quality care— wherever it’s needed.”