A health campaigner and former MP has criticised what he call "time consuming pretexts" to delay the reopening of the inpatient ward of Edward Hain Hospital in St Ives.

Former St Ives MP Andrew George spoke at and after a public meeting at St Ives Guildhall, which was attended by the chief executive of the Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, local Conservative MP Derek Thomas, and local councillors.

The meeting had been discussing the continued closure of the ward, which the trust says is due to the inability to quickly evacuate the building in the case of a fire, due to beds being too wide to fit through doors.

Instead, patients who cannot walk are hauled out of the building on individual units called drag mats, which executive nurse Sharon Linter said could injure them and was "not a safe evacuation procedure," especially with only three staff nurses who would also need to assist other people.

In a PR video produced to present the issues to the public, the trust said plans to keep the ward closed for months while changes were made to the building was "not a smoke screen for a closure plan," and chief executive Philip Confue said keeping it open could lead to charges of "corporate manslaughter."

Mr George said: "I made clear to Philip Confue that I was unimpressed by the series of time consuming pretexts they’ve come up with to extend the closure of inpatient beds at Edward Hain Hospital."

He said the trust had spent money on public relations to "help them spin the message and this pretext," and added that local MP Derek Thomas had been "taken in" by the "excuses."

Mr George also said the evacuation of non-ambulant patients is a problem in many wards including ones at the Royal Cornwall Hospital and patients sent home from Edward Hain or to care homes might not be any safer if they couldn’t escape on their own. He added seven of the 12 beds on the ground floor could currently be evacuated more easily than shown in the video.

He added: "In spite of the PR video's best efforts, this pretext is more concerned about the safety of managers from legal challenge than the safety of patients. Of course we should always strive to improve patient safety, but the closure of beds at Edward Hain didn’t mean that the patients are or would be any safer."

He also accused Mr Thomas of calling the closure was an "opportunity" to identify what healthcare delivered in a community hospital should look like, including without inpatient beds, and said the MP couldn’t explain what he meant by his comments.

Mr Thomas said it was "clearly disappointing and in no ones interest" that the ward remains closed, but that it needs to remain so until fire safety concerns are addressed.

He defended his comments, saying: "I did say that, whilst the bed closure is unwelcome it does provide opportunity to identify exactly what healthcare delivered in a community hospital should look like. This was the accepted view of the meeting that took place at Edward Hain Hospital."

He also attacked Mr George for allowing the closure of Poltair Community Hospital, which he said "is much more regretful because there is no possibility of Poltair, a much loved and appreciated community hospital, ever reopening."

When asked for comment, a spokesperson for the trust said it had set out its position on its website, which redirected to the corporate video: cornwallft.nhs.uk/hospitals/edward-hain