PLANS are being put into place to finally close the former Calderstones Hospital but staff have insisted that the sprawling Whalley site should still have a future.

Proposals have been announced which could see the 101-year-old hospital, already the subject of a patient discharge programme, to be wound down for good.

But staff insiders have said the site’s Maplewood and Wood View units, only constructed within the past seven years, are capable of being adapted for future use.

One worker said: “These are perfectly good buildings and to abandon them would be a huge waste of money.”

The preferred option, outlined by NHS England, would see Calderstones, now known as Mersey Care Whalley, closed completely and a smaller number of low-secure beds provided around the North West.

Medium-secure rated patients would be transferred to a new proposed unit, operated by Mersey Care, at Maghull.

An alternative, which would see some low-secure services continue, with the same medium-secure provisions, has been suggested.

But NHS leaders oppose maintaining an ‘institutional setting in an isolated location’.

An estimated £9.3million in redundancy costs may have to be found under the first option and could save commissioners £6.3million based on last year’s costs.

But £15.5million in transitional funding would be required annually for four years.

Mrs Patel, the regional nursing director for specialised services, said: “People who have a learning disability or autism deserve services which empower them to lead more independent lives, in the communities they know and feel part of, and have a greater say about the support they receive to do that.”

A Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said: “These are serious issues and we will be responding formally in due course.”