‘People will not accept the loss of Chase Farm Hospital and will continue to fight to keep it open through occupation if necessary,’ north London consultant surgeon Anna Athow told News Line yesterday.
Athow, a member of the North East London Council of Action, was commenting on the recommendation of the so-called Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) to close the Enfield hospital’s A&E and consultant-led Maternity departments, which has immediately been ‘accepted’ by health secretary Johnson.
Bill Rogers, secretary of the North-East London Council of Action, said: ‘The go-ahead for cuts and closures to the A&E and Maternity departments at Chase Farm Hospital is exactly what we expected from the so-called IRP.
‘We’re holding a meeting of the Council of Action at the Hollybush pub on Wednesday September 17, so it’s more urgent than ever that people come to the meeting to discuss our next action, which could be to occupy.
‘We want a lot of workers, trade unionists and local residents to come to our next meeting to discuss the way forward for our campaign.’
Health Secretary Johnson said yesterday: ‘I am grateful to the IRP for their report on Barnet, Enfield and Haringey and I accept in full their recommendations.
‘The IRP has undertaken a thorough and detailed review, consulting widely with local stakeholders and providers across NHS London including the Strategic Health Authority (SHA), commissioning Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) and trusts who support the IRP’s recommendations.
‘I am confident that, as is clearly set out in the IRP’s report, this outcome will be best for local people and local services.’
Athow said: ‘Just as expected, the IRP have okayed the closure of Chase Farm Hospital as an acute district general hospital.
‘Chase Farm Hospital is to be sacrificed to pay for the PFI new build at Barnet and the building of another PFI at North Middlesex Hospital, to which hospitals all the acute services are being transferred.
‘The PCTs are obeying the Department of Health Darzi instructions to close district general hospitals and replace them with privately-run urgent care centres, elective surgery centres and polyclinics.
‘This leads to patients in Barnet, Enfield and Haringey having to travel for miles before they reach a proper A&E and other acute services.
‘This decision flies in the face of the wishes of local residents, staff and patients, who have marched, petitioned, rallied and voted over and over again to save Chase Farm Hospital as an acute district general hospital.
‘This Labour government is going about privatising the NHS, which the electorate has never voted for.’
The IRP said in a press statement that it had ‘concluded that change is essential’ and that it ‘supports the proposals developed by Barnet, Enfield and Haringey PCTs to provide A&E services at Barnet and North Middlesex Hospitals’.
The IRP claimed: ‘Continuing to provide A&E services across three sites is not sustainable, nor safe in the long term.’
In an attempt to diffuse opposition, it recommended: ‘An urgent care unit must be provided at Chase Farm Hospital – this will serve the majority of people currently seen at Chase Farm A&E.
‘Urgent Care Centres must also be maintained at Barnet and North Middlesex Hospitals.’
Recommending the closure of the consultant-led Maternity department at Chase Farm, the IRP added that it ‘supports the plans for maternity services to be redistributed across the three hospitals, with consultant-led care provided at Barnet and North Middlesex Hospitals.’
The IRP also called for ‘a full range of antenatal and postnatal services at Chase Farm Hospital’, saying ‘more quality home birth and midwife led options must also be provided across the area.’
However it added: ‘Neonatal care should be situated at Barnet Hospital where the appropriate specialist cover can be provided on site at all times.’
The panel recommended: ‘Elective surgery should be concentrated at Chase Farm Hospital.’
