Labour MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Health, Andy Burnham MP said in a recent Parliamentary debate that I blogged on earlier on Health that…
In 2010, the Secretary of State set out four tests that all proposed reconfigurations had to pass. They related to support from general practitioners, strengthened public and patient engagement, clear clinical evidence and support for patient choice. He said:
“Without all those elements, reconfigurations cannot proceed.”
So let me ask the Minister: does he think that the A and E units closing at Ealing, Hammersmith, Charing Cross and Central Middlesex pass that test? How about St Helier, King George, Newark and Rugby?
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If you rely on “patient choice”, then NO A&E department would ever close.
In addition, all local politicians always support keeping their local A&E department open, since it is political suicide to do otherwise.
However, clinical need should trump “pork-barrel politics” – we clearly need fewer A&E departments, to keep more people alive, and to produce better outcomes generally.