Whittington Hospital campaign warned of trade-offs due to funding cuts

Published: 1 April 2010
by TOM FOOT

THE campaign to save the Whittington Hospital’s accident and emergency department from closure was brought back to earth with a bump on Monday night.

After weeks of mounting support from high-profile medical experts and political heavyweights, NHS bureaucrats signaled their intent to continue as planned.

Islington NHS chief executive Rachel Tyndall, who is deciding what gets cut, said it was time for the campaign to face up to a massive cash crisis in the NHS.

Ms Tyndall described last week’s unprecedented statement from all of the consultants at the Whittington Hospital as “unsurprising”.

“We need to be having a more sophisticated debate about this – so far it is about should we have an A&E or not,” she said.

“We need to be much clearer about what kind of trade-offs we are talking about. We are going to have less money in the future. If we choose the option of keeping the A&E at the Whittington, it means we have to take the funding away from something else. I have to make the best decision for patients. 

“In the near future, I have no doubt we will be forced to make very difficult decisions. There are unpalatable options.”

More than 100 senior doctors at the Highgate hospital signed a letter warning the plan was “not in the best interests of patients”.

But Ms Tyndall said: “Have I heard about the consultants? Yes. Does it surprise me? Absolutely not.”

A huge campaign was launched after a proposal to close the A&E – one of three options for the department – was first leaked to this newspaper in November. 

Around 5,000 people took to the streets in February in protest.

Government ministers, shadow health secretaries and this week the leader of the Green Party have called for the A&E to remain open.

But Ms Tyndall said it was simply not possible to run the health service with the amount of money that was going to be made available. 

North Central London NHS sector – which includes five hospitals – is expected to lose £560million over the next five years, she said.

In a public meeting last month, Jeremy ­Corbyn MP called that figure “notional”.

Under hospital protocols, frontline medical departments – including obstetrics or paediatrics – cannot operate without a fully functioning A&E.

The Whittington’s maternity unit would also be affected if the A&E closed down. 

Ms Tyndall said a midwife-led maternity unit could remain in the hospital without A&E, but only for “normal pregnancies”, where doctors were not needed. In the event of a complication during birth, she said, mothers could be driven to a nearby hospital.

Ms Tyndall added that the London Ambulance Service had told her ambulances could meet journey time targets if the Whittington’s A&E is closed.

She said an Urgent Care Centre – a team of doctors ­stationed at the front entrance of the hospital – would provide a better service for many patients wrongly attending A&E.

Labour councillor Martin Klute, chairman of the Islington health scrutiny committee, said: “Every single remark you make is a strong argument that an A&E at the Whittington is not needed.”

Ms Tyndall said: “I’m sorry to give that impression. There are three options for the Whittington A&E and no decision has been made.”

Ms Tyndall will decide one of seven “scenarios” for the Whittington Hospital. There will be a public consultation in the September.