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Services cut as hospitals merge with £200m debts
Anna Davis2 Mar 2009
THREE of London's most debt-ridden hospital trusts are to merge in a last effort to avoid financial collapse.
Finances have spiralled out of control at Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust, Queen Mary's Sidcup and Queen Elizabeth Hospital Trust.
The new "mega trust" will be left more than £200million in the red, making it one of the most indebted in Britain.
Health bosses will have to axe patient services and beds, senior managers will be sacked and every member of staff will be told to cut spending. Campaigners fear patients will lose key services as health bosses are also planning to strip Queen Mary's of its emergency services and reduce surgical A&E at Lewisham to a daytime service. NHS bosses claim the plan is to make services "safer".
Bromley Hospital in effect went bankrupt last year after racking up a £100million deficit amid claims of financial mismanagement. Queen Elizabeth in Woolwich was £20million in debt before sacking staff and cutting it to £3million last year.
Queen Mary's Sidcup was £20million in the red during the NHS debt crisis two years ago.
The new organisation will have an annual budget of £400million and will try to save cash by combining departments such as payroll, chief executives and finance.
Geoff Martin from London Health Emergency said: "They are being forced to merge because of the chaotic situation in south-east London. This is a shotgun marriage and I have no doubt it will lead to cuts in services, especially in A&E and maternity departments."
The medical directors of all three trusts issued a joint statement saying they recognised the "significant challenges of the merger".
Dr Elizabeth Sawicka, from Bromley, Dr Roger Smith, from Queen Mary's Sidcup and Dr David Sulch from Queen Elizabeth hospital trust, said: "The current situation is increasingly unsustainable. This arises from an increasing problem with recruitment and retention caused by the widespread knowledge of the significant problems the three trusts face as independent organisations.
"Our operational capacity to deliver medical services is declining, and we are unable to modernise service delivery."
A spokesman for NHS London said: "They will be much better equipped to deal with [the challenges] together."
Bromley and Queen Elizabeth hospitals were both built under Private Finance Initiatives and have no realistic chance of repaying their debts.
A review is being carried out into separate plans to strip Queen Mary's of its emergency and maternity services. Under the proposals University Hospital Lewisham will offer emergency surgery for only 12 hours a day, and Princess Royal in Bromley and Queen Elizabeth in Woolwich will be specialist emergency centres. The Independent Reconfiguration Panel will advise Health Secretary Alan Johnson on whether to allow the cuts to go ahead.
