Hammersmith MP Hails Possible Reprieve for Charing Cross Hospital
Andy Slaughter claims NHS plans for reconfiguration of services are 'unravelling'
Hammersmith MP Andy Slaughter is claiming that plans for the 'reconfiguration' of local NHS services, which would include the redevelopment of Charing Cross Hospital, are unravelling.
A report in the trade journal Health Service Journal says that, at an NHS Improvement Board Meeting held on 28 September, NHS bosses halted a £500 reconfiguration plan which was a key part of its Shaping a Healthier Future programme.
On his regular blog, the MP says: " 'Only’ five and a half years after the announcement that Charing Cross Hospital would be demolished as part of a huge reorganisation of the nine hospitals in NW London, the plans have begun to unravel.
" An article in the Health Service Journal revealed the contents of a secret report putting on hold the funding for the first part of the downsizing scheme because it looked unworkable.
" I’d love to claim some of the credit for this as both Lord (Alf) Dubs and I have hosted debates on Charing Cross in the last two weeks, in the Commons and Lords respectively.
"But the answer is more prosaic – the scheme was absurd from day one and the signs of its failure have been ever present, as I wrote in an article to coincide with the debate.
"To remind those understandably confused by what has happened so far:
• In 2012 we were told the entire CXH site would be cleared and sold for private development save for a clinic on 3% of the site.
• In 2013 we told that 40% of the land (but only 13% of the floor area) would be preserved as a new ‘local’ hospital. But this turned out to be just a collection of primary care and treatment services.
• The ‘new’ hospital was spun by Jeremy Hunt and the (then Tory) H&F council as including an A&E but this turned out to be a care centre with no consultant or ambulance attendance, and the demolition would go ahead with the loss of 90% of beds.
• In 2014 the council changed hands, in part on public opposition to the plans for Charing Cross, and the new Labour Council got behind the Save our Hospital campaign.
• But this could not stop the closure of Hammersmith and Central Middlesex A&Es the same year. As result of this and rising demand, waiting times at Charing Cross soared. Now around 70% of patients are seen within four hours against a target of 95%
• For years no further document was published and there was no public consultation, though independent reviews, like the Mansfield Commission, and opinion surveys showed almost universal opposition to the plans.
• However, in 2016 we were told the reorganisation now changed from ‘Shaping a Healthier Future’ to the ‘Sustainability and Transformation Partnership’ would be delayed and split in two. Ealing, the other main hospital under threat, would go first, with Charing Cross’s demolition not until 2021, four years later than planned.
• Now one of the NHS’s own regulatory bodies has raised doubts that even this first part of the scheme is feasible. They do not believe that it is possible to improve GP and social care services sufficiently to allow for 500 acute beds to be lost across NW London.
"About time.
"In the middle of this the Care Quality Commission reported that while Hammersmith and St Mary’s Hospitals still needed improvement, Charing Cross’s services were rated as good. Yet the Government saw no irony in supporting the delayed demolition plan.
"Then last year the urgent care centre at St Mary’s Hospital was privatised. A month ago it was put into special measures. At least St Mary’s still has its A&E. If Hunt gets his way all Charing Cross will have is an urgent care centre.
"So we have won some battles but not the war. Charing Cross is still standing and the facts on the ground mean it is likely to be indispensable for many years to come. But the continuing threat is bad for investment, for morale and for maintaining its reputation as one of England’s leading teaching hospital.
"So I make no excuse for asking you to sign the latest petition to remove the threat to Charing Cross. People power is a blunt but effective weapon. And after all, it is you who pay for our NHS, so perhaps you should have the final say."
November 10, 2017
