PATIENTS in Hammersmith and Fulham could face a journey of nearly an hour to get to their closest accident and emergency department under a new hospital shake-up.
Fears that Hammersmith and Charing Cross Hospitals could lose their A&E services are edging closer to reality as NHS North West London unveiled its initial plans for streamlining its nine hospitals.
The service, which cares for 1.9m patients, plans to centralise services and have five A&E departments across the area – a move they claim will improve patient care.
Health bosses presented their initial plans to the council's health committee on Tuesday night and revealed that Northwick Park and Hillingdon Hospital will definitely be two of the five because of their location.
They admitted they face a straight choice between keeping A&E services at either Hammersmith or St Mary's and either Charing Cross or Chelsea and Westminster and are tackling a £1.8bn deficit.
Research by the service, using ambulance and Transport for London (TfL) data say average additional travel time for borough patients will be three minutes.
But when pressed on worst-case scenarios, they revealed in peak traffic times this could rise to 53 minutes.
Daniel Elkeles, NHS North West London director of strategy, said: “There will be a delay for some people. But the care that patients receive will be improved even if there is a delay because they will be seen by a specialist. Improving care is our primary driver.”
Both Conservative and Labour councillors spoke out about their concerns at the plans and the impact it could have on patients needing urgent care.
“I would urge you to speak to our highways team about traffic in this borough before you make any decisions”, said councillor Joe Carlebach, community care leader. “But I have not heard anything to instill confidence in me that this will improve services.”
Councillor Stephen Cowan, opposition leader, said: “We have heard none of the downsides of these plans. We can't let this happen on our watch because it is unbelievable that services will improve with such widescale cuts and changes.”
Fears that hospitals could close to ease the services financial woes was rejected by bosses before admitting sections of buildings could be sold.
“We can't sell any site completely,” said Mr Elkeles. “On some sites there may be the option to sell part of a building and use that money to invest in our hospitals. The reality is that if we do nothing then all of the providers will go bust.”
A public consultation on the plans will be launched in June with a final decision on A&E closures expected to be made by the end of the year.
