Campaigners fighting to save Ongar Memorial Hospital are celebrating this week after forcing Health chiefs into a U-turn over their emergency closure plans.

The board of Essex and Herts Community NHS Trust met in Bishops Stortford on Tuesday to discuss temporarily closing the hospital's in-patients department in May.

Around 100 outraged Ongar residents at the meeting heard that in spite of efforts to recruit new nurses, the hospital still faced a staffing crisis which could put patients at risk unless the department was closed.

But campaigners insisted that at least three nursing agencies had confirmed that they could cover the shortfall, and that while the Trust had advertised the posts in the Australian press, it had ignored local newspapers.

The board admitted that the Trust may not have contacted the agencies on this occasion, and assured the audience that the closure would be put on hold while it contacted them and advertised the vacancies in the local press.

Campaigner and councillor Doug Kelly said: "If they are genuine, then this is good news.

"If they are going to look for new staff and if, at the end of the day they can't get them for real reasons, then of course it would be unwise to keep it open.

"But I just don't believe they have tried to get the staff."

Ongar MP Eric Pickles said: "We need assurances that the attempt to get staff is a real and genuine one and that they are not just going through the motions.

"We are particularly unimpressed that the Trust advertised for nurses in Australia when there are plenty of nurses available locally. We want to see them advertising in the Ongar Gazette rather than in the Alice Springs Gazette."

Campaign chairman Edwyn Gilmour said: "This is a victory in the ongoing war to keep the hospital open."

The future of the hospital is still being considered by Health Minister John Denham.

Essex and Herts Community NHS Trust was accused of incompetency by Ongar MP Eric Pickles.

The outburst followed a Parliamentary answer from the Health Secretary which revealed that a final decision on the hospital's future had been delayed because the Trust has yet to provide all the necessary information.

Mr Pickles said: "This shows that the Trust has not been terribly competent all round on this. They decided to close the hospital for purely financial reasons and have been hell bent on that since, without allowing facts to get in the way."

The Trust was unavailable for comment.

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