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Published: 25 March, 2010
by TOM FOOT

THE Shadow Health Secretary has joined the chorus of disapproval over proposals to strip the Whittington Hospital of its accident and emergency department.

Andrew Lansley, one of the key men in Tory leader David Cameron’s general election team, telephoned the New Journal on Monday night to announce he would “press the reset button” on the controversial review of hospital services across north London.

Mr Lansley said: “When it comes to the Whittington, it makes no sense. You cannot take away an A&E where around 90,000 attend each year. 

“If there had been a gradual reduction in admissions, it might be acceptable. But there is no evidence of that here. If we were elected we would stop the current process.”

His intervention comes five days after the goverment’s Health Services Minister Mike O’Brien reiterated his “strong concerns” over the A&E closure plan during a House of Commons debate.

Unelected NHS officials are proposing massive changes to the Highgate hospital despite widespread condemnation from the British Medical Association (BMA) and all of the Whittington’s consultants who signed a joint letter against the changes on Thursday. Around 5,000 people marched against the proposals last month and thousands of signatures have been collected on various petitions. 

North Central London sector trust chief executive Rachel Tyndall, the NHS official in charge of the cuts, insists she is working to a proven clinical model in which up to 60 per cent of A&E admissions would be treated in new-style health centres or doctors’ surgeries. 

But a report commissioned by the Department of Health a fortnight ago said those figures “do not stand up to scrutiny”.

On Monday night, around 150 people packed the Whittington Community Centre in Yerbury Road to discuss how to build on the mass march and rally outside the hospital.

Dr Jacky Davis, a consultant at the Whittington and elected member of the BMA Council, said: “It is very good that we are shouting the loudest. We have become politically sensitive. We need to be talking to people in the hospital. We need to make them understand they are not in danger.”

Union chiefs told the meeting that many Whittington staff are afraid to speak out with heavy redundancies expected to take place if the changes are approved.

While the cuts have been touted as an inevitable consequence of a £500 million funding decrease over the next five years, Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn told the meeting no evidence of that figure existed.

Mr Corbyn, who has secured two debates on the Whittington in the Commons, said: “This whole process is being based on that figure. But it is a notional figure. 

“I have asked about it and been told it is a ‘working figure’. I have checked with the Department of Health – they are not planning that cut. I am going to make it my business to get to the bottom of this.”

Campaigners agreed to stage a second day of action, including a series of events across Islington and Camden in support of the hospital, on April 29.

To get involved visit www.dwhc.org 

‘We’re proud of our A&E’ – Consultants speak out

PUBLIC statement from the consultants of  The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust, March 2010: “The North Central London Strategy Plan (25 January 2010) has made proposals for the development of health services in North Central London over the next four years. 

The Strategy Plan, which is being considered by the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts, puts forward seven different potential scenarios for the reconfiguration of hospital services within North Central London. Four of these seven scenarios involve either restricting the opening times of the Whittington accident and emergency department, or closing it completely. Closure of the accident and emergency department would by necessity lead to the shutting down of all emergency medical and surgical services at the Whittington.

We, the consultants of The Whittington Hospital, are completely committed to retaining a high quality full, 24/7 accident and emergency department at the Whittington.

We have no doubt that retaining a full accident and emergency at the Whittington is in the best interests of the people in North Central London. Eighty-three thousand adults and children a year attend our accident and emergency department at all hours for their health needs, and fifteen thousand people a year are admitted as emergencies to our hospital. 

In national comparisons of hospitals across the country, the Whittington Hospital has consistently performed superbly. In October 2009 the Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator of health in England, confirmed our hospital’s good quality of services and excellent financial management. In November 2009 the annual Dr Foster Quality Account, which ranks every hospital trust in England, identified the Whittington one of the safest hospitals in the country, giving an overall rating for the Whittington as 21st out of 145 hospitals. We are immensely proud of the excellent emergency services that we offer to our local people, and we are determined that they should continue.

We fully support the aims of the 2007 Healthcare for London report A Framework for Action which seeks to promote excellence and remove inequalities in healthcare for the people of London. We also fully recognise the need for the NHS to optimise the efficiency and productivity of its services in the current economic climate. We welcome the opportunity to work in the future with our managers and The Trust Board, our neighbouring hospitals and the primary care trusts to continue to develop and improve the excellent services that we already offer to our local people.”

Dr Ben Timmis FRCR
Chairman of The Whittington Hospital Support Committee on behalf of all the consultants at The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust