Nearly 90 beds are to go at the University Hospital at Crosshouse in a shake-up of services aimed at reducing delayed discharges.
Affected departments – though not clarified in detail – will include elderly and orthopaedic services while diabetes sufferers could also be hit by the loss of 30 beds which have already been removed from the endocrine ward.
But the move, which is said to be part of new models for care and services, has been criticised by politicians who have accused NHS Ayrshire and Arran of having a ‘culture of secrecy’.