Lewisham Hospital A&E is spared but services are downgraded

Jeremy Hunt spared Lewisham A&E from closure today but was immediately condemned for downgrading its services.

The Health Secretary rejected a proposal to turn the casualty unit into an urgent care centre as part of landmark reforms to healthcare in London.

He told MPs that Lewisham would retain its A&E with 24/7 consultant cover and the ability to admit patients.

But he accepted that the accident and emergency unit should be downgraded as part of a solution to deal with the unsustainable financial crisis at South London Healthcare Trust.

A quarter of patients that it currently treats, the most seriously injured or sick, will in future be dealt with at other hospitals.

The move is deeply controversial as Lewisham Hospital is not part of the debt-laden South London Healthcare Trust.

Tens of thousands of people protested over axing the A&E unit in what was seen as a test case for other cuts at NHS hospitals.

The South London trust, which was losing more than £1 million a week, is being dissolved after a report by special administrator Matthew Kershaw.

Its three hospitals – Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, Queen Mary’s in Sidcup and the Princess Royal in Bromley – will merge with other trusts.

Mr Hunt accepted all Mr Kershaw’s recommendations today apart from the proposal to make Lewisham Hospital A&E an urgent care centre which would have meant half its patients being treated elsewhere.

He commissioned further work from Sir Bruce Keogh, the NHS medical director, who found that the proposed cuts would not have been in the interests of all patients at all times.

So, instead, Mr Hunt is proposing that the A&E unit will continue to treat around three quarters of its current cases.