Minister Mike O’Brien in warning over Whittington Hospital

Published: 11 Marchh 2010
by RICHARD OSLEY

THE campaign to “Save Our Whittington Hospital” was handed a massive boost on Tuesday night when a key government minister told the House of Commons he has “serious concerns” over plans to scrap its accident and emergency department.

Speaking during a parliamentary debate, Health Services Secretary Mike O’Brien said: “At the moment I am not convinced of the need for the Whittington A&E to close.”

It is the first significant sign that the government could still force health chiefs in Islington to forget about the idea of closing down the service and sending patients instead to the Royal Free in Hampstead and the University College London Hospital in Bloomsbury.

Mr O’Brien’s comments came after pressure from north London’s Labour and Lib Dem MPs in a health debate, and just over a week after the massive 5,000-strong protest march organised by the Defend the Whittington Hospital Coalition with the help of trade unions and the New Journal.

Health chiefs have admitted the accident and emergency department at the Whittington could be cut as part of £500million of savings across north London’s health services. 

A government masterplan suggests more patients can be seen in smaller centres, with 100 new clinics planned for the capital.

But Mr O’Brien told the Commons: “I have concerns about what is happening in relation to the Whittington. 

“We need to see strong clinical evidence for any change to the status of the Whittington. 

“We [the government] have invested £32m into the Whittington, much of it in the A&E, and unless the case for change is established, there will be no change. 

“Those discussing these things need to know that I have serious concerns about it.”

In the same debate, Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson said: “I checked this morning at University College Hospital. It was designed for 60,000 A&E attendees, and it now has knocking on for 90,000, so Lord only knows where the 90,000 people who use the Whittington will go. 

“Apparently, the ex­planation is that many would go to clinics – new health centres – in Islington. The only trouble is that they have not been built, and it will cost money to build them. So if the closure is being undertaken to save money, it is utterly stupid because it will involve spending money to substitute for the money that has already been spent at the Whittington.

Minister lifts hopes in hospital fight

Boost for campaign as Department of Health says only ‘limited evidence’ for closing A&E

by RICHARD OSLEY and TOM FOOT

IS victory suddenly within sight?

Nobody is counting any chickens over the future over the Whittington Hospital just yet but how could campaigners not be buoyed by the firm sentiments of health ­services minister Mike O’Brien?

In Parliament on Tuesday, he declared himself unswayed by claims that the Highgate hospital’s  Accident and Emergency department needs to be axed.

“At the moment I am not convinced of the need for the Whittington A&E to close,” he said.

His comments came as a gaggle of north London MPs, including Labour’s Frank Dobson, Emily Thornberry and Jeremy Corbyn, and Liberal Democrat Lynne Featherstone made their opposition to the suggested closure clear in a health debate.

“The overwhelming case for retention of the Whittington A&E has been made and continues to be made, but we discover that officials are still working on a plan that we believe involves closure of the A&E,” said Mr Corbyn.

Mr O’Brien’s position is in stark contrast to the line repeatedly used by officials at the North Central London sector Trust – the unelected body overseeing proposed changes at the hospital.

The Trust has claimed that at least 200,000 out of 500,000 patients attending A&E departments in five north London hospitals would be “more effectively treated” in doctors’ surgeries, new urgent care centres and so-called “polyclinics”.

It says they are working to a blueprint which is based on “clinical evidence” that up to 60 per cent of A&E admissions can be dealt with in ­“lower-cost settings”.

But in his comments to the House of Commons, that will have been loudly cheered by members of the Defend Whittington Hospital Coalition, Mr O’Brien said he had not seen any such “clinical” evidence and warned decision-makers to step carefully.

Similarly, the Department of Health’s press office told the New Journal its team had only seen “limited” evidence that change was necessary.

Dr Paddy Glackin, secretary of Camden and Islington Londonwide Medical Committees, said: “This proves one of the cornerstones of the plan is based on totally false assumptions. They have been pulling figures out of a hat.”

Meanwhile, the Primary Care Foundation – the body representing local care trusts across the country – published its investigation into the suggested reforms.

It said that just 10 per cent of those admitted through the doors of A&E might be “more effectively treated” outside the hospital, adding: “There may be benefits of joint working between primary and emergency care, but this cannot be said to be evidence-based.”

Funding for hospital health services in north London will fall by at least £500million over the next five years and the changes at the Whittington have been put forward as part of wider proposals to plug that shortfall.”

A Department of Health spokesman said: “There has been limited evidence about the proportion of A&E cases that could be treated elsewhere. This report helps with that – but whatever the exact figure, a significant number of people attend A&E with needs that can be met in primary care.”

Your say – Chief’s warning

THERE was less encouraging news for protesters who joined the Save The Whittington Hospital march when senior health administrators warned on Thursday night that widespread opposition might not be enough to stop accident and emergency services being axed.

At a meeting organised by Liberal Democrat MP Lynne Featherstone in Hornsey, neither Rachel Tyndall, chairwoman of the North Central London (NCL) review panel or Richard Sumray, chairman of the Haringey Primary Care Trust, could offer any assurance that the facility would be protected should a negative public response be confirmed in an official consultation survey.  Mr Sumray said only that the views gathered in the survey would be “hugely important”.

Members of the 300-strong audience in the Greig Academy school hall had demanded a pledge that if there was no support for an overhaul of hospitals in north London, the plans would be abandoned.

Mr Sumray, responding to a heckler who suggested that he did not understand the question, said: “In health, people are always very resistant to change, and generally they like what they’ve got. So any change we have to make needs to have a compelling case. I am not going to say – and no one would say – what will happen as a consequence of consultation. 

“All of the comments will be taken into account but I can’t tell you what the final decision will be now.”