THE government plans to close Hammersmith and Charing Cross A&Es, warns Labour MP Andy Slaughter, who is calling on everyone to demonstrate in Westminster at 1.00pm today.
The MP stressed that the effect on Charing Cross will mean the closure of the hospital.
He said that the cuts will leave the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham with no A&E department.
Slaughter said on his website last Friday: ‘This shocking announcement was slipped out on Thursday evening ahead of a meeting of NHS North West London next Monday.
‘Ealing and Central Middlesex A&Es are also set to close despite promises by David Cameron and Andrew Lansley as recently as last year that they were safe.
‘Firstly, this is a risk to the life and health of everyone who lives in Hammersmith & Fulham.
‘Travel times to the nearest alternatives in Westminster and Chelsea are unpredictable and in heavy traffic can mean half-hour or hour delays. Even ambulances will find the journeys difficult.
‘But it also means the end of the line for both hospitals as cutting edge clinical centres. . .
‘Over time Charing Cross will become a glorified health centre, something Conservative governments have planned for decades.
‘Hammersmith will remain a research centre with private investment by pharmaceutical companies, but will no longer provide immediate care for local residents.’
He added: ‘The majority of the Fulham Palace road site can then be disposed of commercially, no doubt for development as high-rise luxury flats as is proposed for West Kensington and White City.
‘In my view, this is totally unacceptable, and must be stopped.
‘Attend the Joint Committee of PCTs meeting which opens consultation on the closures 2.30pm Monday 25th June.
‘Join me and opponents of other West London hospital closures at the demonstration outside Westminster Central Hall (Westminster or St James Tube) on Monday at 1.00pm.
‘Attend the local public meeting at 6-7pm on Thursday 28 June to organise our local campaign against closures.’
l Huw Irranca-Davies, Labour MP for Ogmore, has called for action over medicine shortages caused by companies’ exports to other EU countries, where bigger profits can be made out of the exchange rates.
He submitted a freedom of information request after a woman in his constituency said she was told the breast cancer drug she had on prescription was out of stock.
More than 60 NHS trusts in England and Wales responded to his inquiry, with four out of five reporting delays in obtaining stocks.
In May, MPs in the All-Party Pharmacy Group published a report on their inquiry into medicine shortages, which found that the problem was caused principally by the export of medicines intended for NHS patients to other EU countries.
