The deputy chief executive of the Basildon and Thurrock Hospital Trust has spoken of his frustration over the way political parties have distorted the closure of Orsett Hospital by using it for their own political means.

Tom Abell, deputy chief executive and chief transformation officer at the trust set the record straight with the Gazette on several major concerns about the closure – and stressed that services will not be cut.

“We did the consultations and then the local elections came along and it was seized as kind of this symbol of opposition to public sector cuts when actually we’re not proposing to cut any services as part of this change and we’re not proposing to downgrade anything,” he said.

“I find that can be frustrating at times because we keep on saying that and yet we get this wall of opposition.”

The closure of Orsett Hospital was announced at the beginning of July as part of a massive health care shake-up across mid and south Essex.

Medical staff at the site currently struggle to deliver effective medical care due to outdated facilities, narrow corridors and limited resources.

Closing it will allow four modern medical facilities to be opened in Corringham, Tilbury, Grays and Purfleet and patients based outside of the borough will have the services moved closer to their homes at facilities in Basildon and Brentwood.

However, a public consultation on closing the hospital was criticised by local councillors and HealthWatch Thurrock who said it “fails” residents because it was difficult for them to access online.

There were also only 2,000 hard copies printed for the whole mid and south Essex area of 1.4million people. Thurrock received just 97 copies.

Those who did take part in the consultation expressed serious concerns that losing Orsett would mean fewer healthcare services.

The controversy made it a heated topic in local politics especially for Labour and the Thurrock Independents, who have been calling for the hospital to remain open, while arguing between them over who has given it more support.

The Conservatives have defended the decision, but stressed they are not responsible for making it.

“The ultimate decision was made by the Clinical Commisioning Group, our commissioner, and we support it from the hospital trust perspective and have helped develop the proposals,” Mr Abell continued.

“We are not proposing these services get outsourced – all the services will continue to be run by the hospital trust, The staff who currently provide the services here will be the staff who provide the services in the new locations but it has got mixed up in this privatisation agenda when that has never even come up.

“I guess any sort of change like this does end up becoming political wherever you are, so we just have to keep reiterating we are not cutting anything and the services will only move when the new facilities are open and we’ll keep Orsett operating until that time.”

He went on to outline how the CCG intends to retain all services within the borough while also making better use of public money by rotating services across the sites on different days, rather than running all services every day as they do now at Orsett.

“We will organise services that way round because there clearly is a benefit in terms of getting greater reach and accessibility in those locations.

“It also means that we can make much better use of the buildings and ensure they are full, vibrant and have got people going through them, rather than a space like Orsett that is empty for certain parts of the week.

“It is not good use of public money for us to continue to do that every day.”

The GP surgery on nearby Rowley Road will also remain open and plans are in place to expand it in the future.

A new GP surgery is also being planned for the Grays medical centre when it opens.

Mr Abell offered reassurance to patients who use the renal dialysis services at the hospital, guaranteeing that they will remain in Thurrock.

Speaking on whether the closure is set in stone, he said: “It’s not my decision, it’s the commissioner’s decision.

“Obviously he made a pretty clear decision in July for the closure of Orsett and the relocation of services and we are planning on that basis at the moment.”