Lewisham A&E moves closer to closure despite massive outcry

A London hospital has moved closer to losing its highly-praised accident and emergency department despite an outcry from clinicians and patients and a 15,000-strong protest march.

NHS administrator Matthew Kershaw today refused to withdraw a proposal to axe Lewisham hospital’s casualty unit.

It will now be up to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to decide next month whether to accept his recommendations to shake-up the care provided by a number of hospitals in south-east London over the next three years.

Mr Kershaw was sent in to tackle a £207 million funding crisis at South London Healthcare Trust caused mainly by the soaring cost of private finance initiative projects at two of its hospitals, Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich and Princess Royal University Hospital in Bromley.

His draft report in October proposed closing Lewisham’s A&E and transferring services to Queen Elizabeth — a move the final report today endorses.

In a concession to the threat to Lewisham’s maternity services, used by 4,400 women a year, he proposes establishing five “midwife-led birthing units”, including one at Lewisham, and a “paediatric urgent care centre” at the hospital. However, this would be unable to handle more than half the borough’s “high risk” pregnancies.

Lewisham’s emergency room consultants had pleaded for a rethink, pointing out that it had just undergone a £12 million refurbishment and dealt with 115,000 patients last year. They fear the changes will result in south-east London losing 14 critical care beds.

Doctors at the financially solvent Lewisham hospital accuse Mr Kershaw of acting beyond his powers by including the hospital in his plans despite it not being part of the financially crippled South London Healthcare Trust.

A spokeswoman for Save Lewisham Hospital said: “We are very disappointed that the administrator has not taken any notice of the massive public outcry about these closures. However, they try to cloak it in jargon, they’re closing the A&E and not providing full maternity services. What they are doing is very dangerous for Lewisham.”

Mr Kershaw said none of the 8,224 consultation responses had offered an alternative solution to his proposed changes, which will cost £55 million to implement.

He said: “I have said consistently that the status quo is not an option and I believe these final, refined recommendations are the right ones, although I appreciate that some people will find them difficult to accept.

“I do believe that if implemented fully they will help deliver safe, high quality, affordable and sustainable services for the people of south-east London.”

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who was summoned to the Commons this afternon by concerned MPs, revealed he had ordered fresh legal advice into whether Mr Kershaw had exceeded his powers in including Lewisham hospital in his plans.

Andy Burnham, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said the plans broke “new territory” in seeking to deal with financial crises in the NHS, and used Lewisham as a “pawn” to solve the problems of other hospitals. “People will need to be convinced that these proposals won’t put lives at risk,” he said.

Dame Joan Ruddock, Labour MP for Lewisham Deptford, told Mr Hunt the plans would lead to the “destruction” of Lewisham hospital, adding: “These proposals would lead to a major reconfiguration by the back door. They’re opposed by virtually all the health professionals in the area.”

Mr Hunt said he understod the “very real concerns” of MPs and vowed not to press ahead unless he was convinced the plans met the Prime Minister’s four tests for NHS changes - that they are backed by the public, the medical profession, make sense clinically and increase choice.