HEALTH workers have angrily condemned the decision by administrators now running the bankrupt South London Healthcare Trust to close the gynaecology ward at Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup.
The decision means that women, including those who have cancer or have suffered a miscarriage, will be transferred to a surgical ward where men are also nursed.
South London Healthcare Trust was the first to be placed into administration after Health Secretary Lansley accused it of running up £150 million worth of debt.
The trust is now run by administrators and is said to be ‘overspending’ by £1.3m a week.
Queen Mary’s had its accident and emergency and maternity wards closed in 2010 and now the Cray ward, which treats gynaecology patients, will close within weeks and be merged into the mixed surgical ward.
BMA member Anna Athow told News Line yesterday: ‘They’ve had targets for getting rid of mixed wards for years, but if you keep chopping beds at the rate that they are continuing to, it is inevitable that you are going to end up with mixed wards, and they know that.
‘It is all about money. You can keep the sexes separate as long as you have enough beds and obviously, for things such as breast surgery and gynaecological surgery you can give a much better quality of service on a single sex ward.
‘It’s a question of dignity and privacy. The key question is stopping the bed closures and fighting the massive £20 billion NHS cuts.
‘At Queen Mary’s they are just running things down. Since they’ve stripped out the A&E, Maternity and Paediatrics units they have turned Queen Mary’s into a “cold sight”, meaning elective surgery only.
‘They are just running it down to prop up the rest of the bankrupt South London Healthcare Trust, which as you know is in administration at this moment. It was the first ever NHS trust to go into administration.
‘The key question is doing whatever is necessary to keep beds open and stop bed, ward and hospital closures.
‘The TUC must organise a general strike to defend the NHS and bring down this Tory-LibDem Coalition government before it succeeds in its policy of smashing up and privatising the health service.’
A spokesperson for the Royal College of Nursing said: ‘If it is the case that female patients are being put on mixed wards after surgery, this is not acceptable and all possible action must be taken to remedy the situation.’