SIDCUP: Queen Mary's A&E and maternity could close at any time

South London Healthcare Trust chief executive, Dr Chris Streather said he accepted the temporary closures may turn out to be permanent, but said he could not allow the units to remain open if patient safety was at risk.

Dr Streather says staffing problems are now so serious he has been forced to ask for a weekly review of the situation and he wrote to trust staff on Monday warning the units could close.

His warning comes despite the announcement of the freezing of A Picture of Health (APOH) plans to permanently close Queen Mary’s A&E from September, as well as axing its maternity and in-patient children’s services.

But he denied his trust was trying to achieve the APOH plans by the back door.

He said: “Local politics is too noisy to do anything without good reason.

“You don’t do right by local people by playing games with local politicians. It won’t help us work together.”

He said he welcomed Old Bexley and Sidcup MP James Brokenshire’s referral of the trust to the Care Quality Commission because any safety issues would be brought into the open by someone outside the trust.

Dr Streather had already warned when a review of APOH was announced in June, there could be dire consequences if the review took too long.

Weeks later, the details of the review have still to be hammered out.

Last week it was announced the review will be done by the Independent Review Panel and not led by Simons Robbins, chairman of Bromley Primary Care Trust, who also led the APOH decisions.

Dr Streather said apart from the safety issues, there was also a danger of the money running out and the current three-site trust becoming unviable, if the review takes too long.

He warned: “If it becomes purely about finance, the consequences could be even harsher.”

Dr Streather said if the review recommended abandoning the APOH plans, they would have to find a plan B because there currently is not one.

He added: “Whatever it is, it won’t be a return to the status quo. The problems will still exist.”

The trust is already working to expand capacity in A&E and maternity at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, and Princess Royal in Farnborough, to make sure they can cope with rising numbers.

It has also written to a number of neighbouring trusts asking for help, either by loaning staff or taking over some of the trust’s work.

Dr Streather said despite all the problems, the trust was making improvements in patient care, such as falling mortality and hospital infection rates.

The trust had also stayed in the black for the first four months of the year, by being “pretty ruthless” on spending.

He praised staff for being “stoical” in the face of all the difficulties and said the best outcome would be a speedy review endorsing APOH and an end to the uncertaintly for staff.