ATTEMPTS are to be made to stop plans to strip Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, of all its emergency services.

Both Bexley Council and political party Independents To Save Queen Mary's Hospital, have announced they hope to challenge the decision, made by the Joint Committee of Primary Care Trusts (JCPCT).

The JCPCT decided to adopt an amended version of option two, of the three options which went out to public consultation on the future of hospital services in outer south-east London.

Three days later, the joint overview and scrutiny committee met to discuss the JCPCT decision.

The scrutiny committee, made up of councillors from the four boroughs involved - Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham - plus councillors from Lambeth, Southwark and Kent, has the power to refer the JCPCT decision to the Health Secretary.

After listening to Michael Chuter, chairman of the JCPCT, scrutiny committee members were split six-six on whether to make the referral to the Health Secretary now, or wait until their next meeting in September, when they will have had all the remaining information from the JCPCT.

Scrutiny committee chairman, Lewisham councillor Sylvia Scott, used her casting vote to delay the decision.

But within minutes of the end of that meeting, Bexley councillors set a date of next Monday for an emergency meeting of its own scrutiny committee.

At its meeting, Bexley councillors are expected to agree a separate referral of the decision to the Health Secretary.

Bexley Council cabinet member for health and adult care Councillor Sharon Massey said Bexley would challenge both the consultation process and the decision.

She said: "We cannot do nothing.

"The decision is so appalling.

"The option the JCPCT has chosen was not even consulted on, and there was no option at all for keeping some emergency services at Queen Mary's."

She added: "We do not feel Queen Mary's had a fair shot at things."

Cllr Massey said she hoped there would be some attempt to speed up the lengthy process.

She explained: "Otherwise it will not be fair on those working at Queen Mary's.

"Changes are already happening and the hospital is haemorrhaging so many staff."

Health Secretary Alan Johnson will then pass Bexley's challenge to the Independent Reconfiguration Panel for an initial assessment.

Cllr Massey said: "We should get a good steer from the panel on our chances of success."

But she admitted she was not optimistic.

She said: "I feel we are banging our heads against a brick wall.

"I was so naive; I did not realise it was going to be such a done deal.

"The option the JCPCT chose was not even the most popular.

"And all Queen Mary's has got out of this, is a 24-hour urgent treatment centre."

Cllr Massey also expressed concern the £10m budgeted for reconfiguring the services would not be enough.

Meanwhile, Independents To Save Queen Mary's Hospital has launched an appeal for cash to challenge the JCPCT decision through a judicial review.

Its leader John Hemming-Clark says the party needs to raise £75,000 to fund the case.

He added: "Ten thousand donations of £7.50 is achievable.

"Let's not allow Queen Mary's to go down without a fight."

Mr Hemming-Clark said: "This whole process has been more shabbily handled than we could have ever imagined.

"Fighting through the courts is the only way we are going to get the unelected A Picture of Health bureaucrats to listen, and to keep all the vital services at Queen Mary's open."

To donate, go to faect.org.uk or call 020 8468 7945, fax 020 8295 0739 or send cheques payable to ITS QMS to 1a Holbrook Lane, Chislehurst BR7 6PE.

But Queen Mary's chief executive Kate Grimes remains upbeat about the hospital's future. Read her views in next week's News Shopper.