LEWISHAM East Labour MP Heidi Alexander handed in a 22,000 signature petition to Downing Street yesterday against plans to axe Lewisham Hospital’s A&E and downgrade its maternity services.
The south east London MP also handed in a letter from 200 doctors opposing South East London Healthcare Trust Special Administrator (TSA) plans, warning they will risk patients’ lives.
The petition, gathered by SOS Lewisham NHS campaigners, said: ‘We believe a full admitting A&E service and a full maternity service at Lewisham Hospital must remain and…call upon the Secretary of State for Health to reject any recommendations put to him which would result in reductions in the services provided to residents of Lewisham by Lewisham Hospital.’
The doctors’ letter said that Lewisham Hospital ‘is a solvent, successful organisation that delivers high-quality care to its patients. Yet the TSA has taken the extraordinary view that Lewisham’s Accident and Emergency Department should close to admissions, leading to closure of acute services including full maternity services, and that most of the hospital site be sold.
‘Emergency services are vital for the population of Lewisham, which contains some of the most deprived wards in England. Lewisham Hospital’s new £12 million A&E department opened as recently as April 2012 in response to the need for expanded services.
‘The TSA’s report asserts that the need for emergency care would be reduced by 30% simply by providing more care in the community. However, there is simply no clinical evidence to back this up…
‘Our intensive care unit has excellent standardised mortality rates. Our new birthing centre has high maternal satisfaction and provides high-quality care to a community with a high proportion of “high risk” births, which would be jeopardised if maternity services are lost or downgraded.
‘Lewisham Hospital features in the top 40 hospitals in the CHKS rankings. If its acute services are lost, they could not be provided by others without risking patients’ safety and quality of care.
‘The TSA’s review fails the “four tests” that you and the Secretary of State for Health have recently laid down in Parliament. It does not have the backing of GPs. It does not have public support, as the demonstrations, public meetings and the petition have shown. It is not based on sound clinical evidence. Even the report itself acknowledges that it will not improve patient choice.’
The doctors’ letter went on: ‘If this report is accepted as it stands, it will create a dangerous precedent for the rest of England.’
