‘Back-door’ cuts threaten Lewisham A&E

Health chiefs were today accused of planning “back-door” cuts to Lewisham Hospital as the row over NHS services in south-east London escalates.

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham has written to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt urging him immediately to stop plans to axe the hospital’s A&E department and cut its maternity services.

He said the cuts proposed by special administrator Matthew Kershaw, who was brought in to sort out the debt crisis at South London Healthcare Trust, would go against the 2009 Health Act.

Mr Burnham said in his letter that the administrator’s remit did not cover “changes in other hospitals and allow back-door reconfigurations”. Mr

Burnham also called for changes at King’s College Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas and the South London and Maudsley to be paused and a full strategic review held of NHS services in south-east London.

More than 800 doctors are backing a campaign to save Lewisham Hospital’s emergency department, which had a £12 million modernisation in April.