LIBDEM Health Minister Burstow declared on Monday night that the coalition government was ‘right’ to announce the closure of Chase Farm Hospital ‘after years of indecision’, and warned that ‘a wave’ of such announcements are on the way.
Burstow told a fringe meeting at the LibDem Conference that the Coalition had been right to announce that it intends to ‘reconfigure’ Chase Farm hospital by shutting the A&E and Maternity units.
It is the first time a minister has admitted that many NHS hospitals are to close.
Burstow said it had been right to approve the ‘downgrading’ of Chase Farm and that more such changes were on the way.
‘We’re now beginning to hit a wave of reconfiguration decisions,’ he said.
‘We recognise there are going to be more of these.’
Bill Rogers, Secretary of the North East London Council of Action told News Line yesterday: ‘Burstow’s comments show just why the defence of Chase Farm Hospital is not only an issue for north London.
‘We urge trade unionists, workers and youth from all over the country to come to our conference on October 1st to make plans to defend Chase Farm and all District General Hospitals.’ (see ad this page).
Meanwhile, it has emerged that hundreds of people die every year in London due to a lack of hospital consultants available at weekends.
A report issued yesterday by NHS London, the strategic health authority, shows that there are more than 500 avoidable deaths in emergency care in the capital every year.
It found: ‘Reduced service provision at weekends is associated with this higher mortality rate.’
It found: ‘If the weekend mortality rate in London was the same as the weekday rate, there would be around 520 fewer deaths.’
It identified ‘stark’ differences in consultant hours across the capital’s hospitals at evenings and weekends, and named those with the patchiest cover.
While Hillingdon Hospital and Croydon Health Services expected an on call consultant emergency general surgeon to be on site for 12 and nine hours a day, respectively over the weekend, King’s College and Newham University hospitals had cover for only two hours.
Across London, consultant emergency general surgeons were on site for an average of four hours a day at the weekend, compared with 10 in the week.
The report said: ‘In London there is significant variation in the number of hours that a consultant is expected to be on-site.
‘There is inadequate access in almost a third of London’s hospitals to an emergency theatre – this is detrimental to patient outcomes and can increase mortality and morbidity,’ it warned.
