Whittington Hospital A&E under threat
THE Whittington Hospital's accident and emergency department could be axed under shock new plans being discussed by health chiefs.
The casualty department in Magdala Avenue, Archway, sees 80,000 people every year - but bosses at the North Central London NHS are considering whether it should be closed, along with the new intensive care unit.
If A&E shuts, desperately ill people from across Islington and Haringey would be forced to travel miles to University College Hospital in Euston, the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead or the North Middlesex Hospital in Edmonton.
Jeremy Corbyn, MP for Islington North, said: "If the plans to close the A&E department are serious, it means that in the past 20 years, Islington will have gone from having three casualty departments to zero.
"I think it's simply not acceptable to say that a borough the size of Islington would have to rely on casualties at either the North Mid or UCH. And I am very worried that the Whittington should be being downgraded to effectively being a glorified health centre."
Patients' representative Helena Kania added: "I can't imagine that they would close the A&E. It's so busy. I would want to be 100 per cent sure that there would be no deterioration in services by closing the A&E - and I can't see how they will provide that reassurance.
"This isn't the first thing that The Whittington would be losing out on. It's already not going to have stroke services. I am very, very concerned."
Only three years ago, The Whittington opened a £30million wing, including a new intensive care unit. And last year, it ploughed £500,000 into a new children's section at its A&E department.
But in a massive reorganisation of London's NHS, every hospital in the boroughs of Islington, Camden, Haringey, Enfield and Barnet will be categorised as either a "local", "major acute" or "specialist". The Whittington will almost definitely be downgraded to a "local" hospital.
An internal letter from Rachel Tyndall, chief executive of NHS Islington and the north central London sector, revealed that health bosses were also considering whether The Whittington needed to have an A&E department or an intensive care unit.
She wrote: “The Healthcare for London model for local hospitals includes both A&E and ITU facilities.
"The Clinical Advisory Group (experts from the five boroughs) proposed this model. However, it has also been proposed that this model be tested and that perhaps fewer services are provided at local hospitals.
"No decision has yet been made."
The Whittington's stroke unit is already set to be dismantled and patients sent to a new hyper-acute centre at University College Hospital. And the hospital is now even holding discussions about whether to merge with the Royal Free - although Whittington chief executive Rob Larkman insisted that the talks were still in "the early stages".
Islington Council's health and wellbeing review committee has begged health bosses to be more frank. Councillor Martin Klute, chairman of the committee, said: "The impression we are getting is that they are going to make the decision and then tell us about it. They have been very evasive. The way they have been answering questions is absolutely classic whitewashing.
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