Editorial

The Labour government has allowed state run hospitals in London to face the potential of closure, with hospitals like Chase Farm, Whittington faces wards being closed and patients crammed into neighbouring hospitals; the NHS in London is facing a financial meltdown in 2017.

The immediate problem is that the NHS in London is being used as a political football by politicians who are desperate to cling onto their parliamentary seats.  What Londoners require is cross-party agreement that an honest and frank discussion is made on the NHS, that will encompass the concerns of the people, which include immediate attention with well staffed A&E departments, shorter waiting times for serious operations and a look at unnecessary costs.  How is it that £25 million was spent on management consultancy costs in 2008?

The debate in Parliament yesterday highlighted the failure of the government’s review of NHS services in London with David Burrowes MP for Enfield Southgate saying:

"The consultation was woeful and incomplete, leading to widespread concern and a lack of confidence."

The government have pushed through a highly unpopular scheme that will mean in north-east London the closure of A&E and maternity services at Chase Farm, replaced by  "poly-systems" and "a 12-hour urgent care centre".

The government spent 18 months "consulting" over health services in London only in London to see Chase Farm close wards, with maternity unit recording 3,300 births and 100,000 attendances in A and E last year. David Burrowes MP for Enfield Southgate said in Parliament:

"My constituents are asking why, given all the money that is going into the health service and given the rising demand, we are reducing access to accident and emergency services while increasing management of contracts and increasing waste. They want a new financial model and a new clinical model that would ensure that we look at the position again."

The Labour party have prided themselves as the "guardians of the NHS" but have singularly undermined the future of state run hospitals in the capital with proposals to setup "polyclinics".

photo credit: Chase Farm Hospital