Health minister Ara Darzi’s plans ‘are a massive attack on hospital care in London’, warned consultant surgeon Anna Athow yesterday.
Darzi is conducting a review of healthcare in England. His just-published London plans are a blueprint for the rest of the country.
Darzi claims that ‘the days of district general hospitals seeking to provide all services to a high enough standard are over’.
His review of health services in London says: ‘Continuing with the old ways of doing things will not only be ineffective, it is also likely to be unaffordable.’
Athow said: ‘District general hospitals (DGHs), of which there are 32 in London, provide high quality consultant-led care.
‘The report proposes closing 16 to 24 of these, by removing their maternity and paediatric units and A&Es.
‘Thus patients requiring emergency surgery would have to travel miles to access one of the only 8 to 16 acute general hospitals that would be left, risking their lives.
‘Much of the elective work at present performed in the acute DGH, – outpatients, day surgery and x-ray and diagnosis, he proposes removing to 150 polyclinics, which would also house multiple GPs.
‘The enormous skill and efficiency of consultants working together in the DGH would be broken up and most of their work taken over by GPs/Specialists, or non medically qualified practitioners.
‘The Alberti report on the future of Chase Farm hospital in North London, has been publicised as a blue print for the rest of the country.
‘The plan there is to replace the acute general hospital with “a polyclinic”, “a planned surgicentre” and “an urgent care centre”.
‘Presumably, this would be the plan for the stripped- out 16 to 24 hospitals in London.
‘It is obvious that these are the very type of facilities that are being tendered out to the private sector.
‘So what lies behind the Darzi plan is
‘1) a massive reduction of emergency care, putting the lives of Londoners at risk.
‘2) a massive reduction in consultant-led care, and its replacement with GP and non medical qualified practitioner care,
‘3) a huge opening for the private sector to tender for the new elective facilities, polyclinics, urgent care centres and surgicentres.
‘It is a disaster for patients, for high medical standards and for continuity of care.’
The British Medical Association yesterday expressed concerns over Brown and Darzi’s proposals for the NHS.
A BMA spokeswoman told News Line: ‘Doctors have voted against further extension of the private sector. We fear the new proposals will attract the independent sector.’
Chairman of the BMA consultants committee Jonathan Fielden said: ‘It is pushing an old agenda, not a new one. Our concern is that this strips resources from hospitals and GP services.’
Commenting on Brown’s speech yesterday, public sector union UNISON general secretary Dave Prentis said: ‘UNISON still has many question marks about the current direction of NHS changes, but we welcome this fresh and more open approach. We hope that it signals a sea change from before.’
Commenting on the London plans, Royal College of Midwives policy director Sean O’Sullivan said: ‘The challenge is there aren’t enough midwives in London.
‘We are concerned that women would not be able to access safe services.
‘We would be opposed to just a midwife-led service in specialist centres.’