Hammersmith MP Andy Slaughter is furious as the plans are 'worse than we were recently led to believe'
Charing Cross Hospital is set for a major downsize
Plans to sell more than half of Charing Cross Hospital and remove its A&E were revealed last night as part of the biggest hospital closure programme in the NHS’s history.
After two years of fighting against the downsizing of the hospital in Hammersmith , west Londoners were left reeling as plans to sell 55 per cent of the Charing Cross site and reduce space by more than 75 per cent were announced.
Under the Shaping a Healthier Future programme, the hospital’s governing body, Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust, published its board papers yesterday evening (July 24) where they announced inpatient beds would be reduced from 360 to 24 as Charing Cross becomes a local hospital providing GP and treatment services as well as only day surgery.
Labour Hammersmith MP, Andy Slaughter, has been campaigning with the Save Our Hospitals group for the past two years . He said: “These proposals are worse than we were recently led to believe. Charing Cross will close as a major hospital if this goes ahead. It will be reduced to a primary care centre with some day surgery and treatment services.
"This is simply unacceptable to many west Londoners and we are going to keep fighting to save Charing Cross which has been a landmark London hospital for almost 200 years.”
The board papers outline how A&E and acute surgery will move from Charing Cross to St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, leaving ‘an emergency service appropriate for a local hospital’.
This is despite health secretary Jeremy Hunt telling getwestlondon last month Charing Cross will be a full A&E. He said: "Anyone suggesting otherwise is just engaging in political scaremongering because of the elections."
St Mary’s Paddington, where the majority of emergency patients are set to go, will have 45 per cent of its site put up for sale and the entire Western Eye Hospital will be for sale to raise a projected £270 million.
Hammersmith MP Andy Slaughter has fought furiously against hospital closures in Hammersmith and Fulham
The news comes days after it was announced Hammersmith Hospital and Central Middlesex Hospital’s A&E closures on September 10 will be publicised by top advertising agency, M&C Saatchi, at a cost of £55,000 .
Mr Slaughter added: “To suggest that services are ‘changing’ rather than closing is misleading and dangerous. This closure programme, the biggest in NHS history, has been subject to spin and concealment by the local NHS and the Government throughout. The A&E closures at Hammersmith and Central Middlesex Hospitals were announced the day after the local elections.
“With a further £207m to save from their budget over the next five years on top of £127m saved in the past three these are cost-driven decisions and the blame for them lies with the Coalition Government and the Health Secretary.”
The proposals are set to be approved by the trust at a meeting this Wednesday (July 30) morning.
Getwestlondon is waiting for a comment from the Department of Health and Imperial Healthcare NHS Trust.
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