ACCIDENT and emergency staff in west London are protesting that the closure of their departments would put lives at risk.

NHS North West London trust plans to downgrade Charing Cross and Hammersmith hospitals and shut their A&E departments.

Campaigners, led by Hammersmith and Fulham Council and Hammersmith’s Labour MP Andy Slaughter, are fighting the proposals, which they insist will endanger patients.

Now they have been joined by hospital staff.

One A&E employee at St Mary’s Hospital hit out at the plans this week, telling the Chronicle: “Closing Charing Cross A&E would be a disaster, not only for those who need the service, but for the remaining five hospitals.”

The staff member, who did not wish to be identified, said: “St Mary’s is full to bursting point and patient waiting times already put staff under stress.

“I don’t for a minute think we will be given more staff to help ease the patient influx.

“And what about travel time? A patient could be dead on arrival by the time an ambulance gets to an A&E department.”

The plans will also strip Ealing and Central Middlesex hospitals of their A&E units but NHS North West London, with a catchment population of 1.9 million, insists they will improve the NHS and save more lives.

Chief executive Anne Rainsberry said: “I believe the changes proposed will help us deliver better results and save more lives for generations to come.”

The National Clinical Advisory Team, created to review the closures, warns the trust in a report that doctors and nurses remain sceptical. It said: “There is still a lot of work to be done to win over the clinical teams in existing emergency departments.”

The trust has also come under fire for arranging its only public roadshow about the closures at Hammersmith Town Hall on Saturday, June 28 – the day the Olympic road race will bring the borough to a standstill.

Councillor Marcus Ginn, Hammersmith and Fulham Council community care leader, said: “We knew these NHS bureaucrats were out of touch, but this is wildly incompetent even by their standards.”

MP Andy Slaughter has also called for an independent inquiry and held a 90-minute debate in Parliament on Wednesday.

He said: “These are matters of life and death for my constituents and they need to be properly investigated, immediately.”

Petitions against the closures have been signed by more than 4,000 and a protest was held outside Hammersmith Hospital, in Du Cane Road, Shepherd’s Bush, on Monday.

“This is a fantastic response from right across the community,” added Mr Slaughter.

For more information visit www.savehammersmith.com  and www.savecharingcross.com .