£560m black hole threatens future of Whittington A&E
THE real reason why The Whittington Hospital may lose its accident and emergency department has been revealed - and it is because health chiefs are looking at a £560million black hole.
A new report has revealed that the North Central London NHS - which is responsible for five north London boroughs - is looking to cut £560million a year from its £2.27billion budget by 2016-17.
The report suggests that one way health chiefs could save part of the cash is by stripping The Whittington, in Magdala Avenue, Archway, down to little more than a glorified clinic - with no A&E, no maternity unit, no intensive care and just routine operations.
The North Central London Strategy Plan 2010-14 is the first time health chiefs in charge of the NHS in Islington, Camden, Haringey, Barnet and Enfield have publicly revealed the changes they are planning.
It says: "The significant deficit in the UK's finances, arising from the recession, has resulted in uncertainty around the future funding of public services, including the NHS.
"Although the main political parties have promised to protect health funding, the reality is that following a decade of unprecedented growth, funding will be, at best, flat in real terms."
One of the ways that health chiefs plan to save this money is by shifting patients out of hospitals and into polyclinics - where people will be able to see doctors, get injuries treated and have minor procedures done.
In Islington, they plan to have three polyclinics - one at The Whittington, one in the centre of the borough and one in the south.
But health chiefs also plan to have a mass reorganisation of the six general hospitals that serve the five boroughs - and The Whittington will be among the hardest hit.
The report reveals that there are seven possible scenarios:
l Scenarios six and seven would see The Whittington become little more than a glorified health centre with no A&E, no intensive care and no maternity unit. The only services still at the site would be an urgent care centre for people with walk-in problems, a children's assessment unit, planned operations, and "routine" outpatient appointments and inpatient cases.
l Scenarios four and five would be the same but with the addition of a 16-hour A&E, some emergency medicine, an intensive care unit and - possibly - a maternity unit.
l Scenarios one, two and three would allow The Whittington to retain a 24-hour A&E and provide emergency surgery, emergency medicine and trauma services. The maternity unit could still be cut.
Under the plans, the four hospitals that will retain their 24-hour A&Es will be the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead, University College Hospital in Euston, Barnet Hospital in Barnet and the North Middlesex Hospital in Edmonton.
Health chiefs claim 40 per cent of people who go to A&E do not need to be there. The report has been met with horror by the Defend The Whittington Hospital Coalition.
Zozi Goodman, the campaign's joint chairwoman, said: "Islington is the eighth most deprived place in the country and to leave it without an A&E, maternity services and paed-iatric services is a dereliction of duty to the people who need it most. You can't cut health because people don't stop being ill in a recession.
|
|
|
|
|
|