Beds axed at Charing Cross & Hammersmith Hospitals

Minister denies there are plans to close Charing Cross

A local Conservative MP has condemned plans to cut 200 beds in the Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust, branding the move as yet another piece in Labour’s scheme to close or downsize the Charing Cross Hospital by stealth.

The cuts were revealed by the Chief Executive of Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust at the Patient Involvement Forum on 26th January 2006 where it was also reported nearly half of the beds to close have already gone.

These bed closures are part of an ongoing threat of closure or severe downsizing to Charing Cross Hospital that was first uncovered in March 2005. The crisis-hit Hospitals Trust has already seen whole wards close, thousands of operations postponed last year and 300 redundancies announced in November 2005.

The Trust has a £37 million deficit in the first six months of this financial year which equates to 9% of its total turnover making their deficit the second largest in Britain.

Commenting, Greg Hands MP said “Month by month, Labour’s plan to close or downsize Charing Cross Hospital by stealth is slowly unravelling. The 200 bed closures, nearly half of which have already gone, are very bad news for Hammersmith & Fulham patients – and even worse news for the future of Charing Cross Hospital. Local people want Charing Cross Hospital to remain open, on its current site, with its full range of specialist services and the current level of acute beds.”

However, Government takes a different view. Jane Kennedy MP, Health Minister states "The Government has invested in Charing Cross Hospital and delivered more doctors and nurses, lower waiting lists, and faster, better treatment for patients. There are no plans to close Charing Cross, but we are always considering ways to improve the NHS for local communities."

Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council, Stephen Burke said "We welcome the commitment from the Health Minister to the future of Charing Cross hospital. Scaremongering about the hospital has obviously been a concern for local people, who want high-quality, accessible health services in the community. The council is fully committed to ensuring that Charing Cross Hospital continues to deliver quality health services for local residents."

He went on to say "Confirmation from the Minister that, as a result of significant Government investment, services at the hospital are improving is good news for the many people in the borough who seek treatment there. The hospital's current financial issues are being addressed as part of the Strategic Health Authority's review, and we look forward to further improvements to local health services as a result of this."

The future of Charing Cross Hospital became the subject of political debate in Parliament this week when Labour MP, Andrew Slaughter stated that all the local hospitals were meeting targets and cited the improvement in the performance of the Hammersmith Hospitals NHS Trust which in the past year has treated 13% more emergency cases, 9% more elective cases, and 7% more out-patients. He also spoke of the "quite extraordinary amounts of investment that are going into Charing Cross hospital"

Ann Keen MP, who worked at Hammersmith Hospital back in 1993, and recalled a concerted cross party and residents campaign fought in the late 1980s and early 1990s to save Charing Cross Hospital when the site was going to be sold off.   The recent news of bed cuts within the troubled NHS Trust will do little to allay fears that a similar threat to the future of Charing Cross Hospital is unfounded.

February 14, 2006