In accordance with his statutory duty, the Secretary of State for Health has today published a notice of his decision in relation to South London Healthcare NHS Trust to secure sustainable provision of health services to those patients served by the trust and in the south east London health economy.
The Trust Special Administrator was appointed in July last year to make recommendations to the Secretary of State on the future of South London Healthcare NHS Trust. On 30 January, the Secretary of State made his decision in response to the final recommendations made to him by the Trust Special Administrator. After careful consideration the Secretary of State has accepted the broad recommendations of the report, which are:
- the trust will be dissolved, with each of its hospitals taken over by a neighbouring hospital trust. These mergers are subject to approval from the relevant regulators
- all 3 hospitals within South London Healthcare NHS Trust – Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, Queen Mary’s in Sidcup and the Princess Royal in Bromley – will be required to make the full £74.9 million of efficiencies identified by the Trust Special Administrator
- all vacant or poorly utilised premises will be vacated, and sold where possible
- the department will pay for the excess costs of the PFI buildings at the Queen Elizabeth and Princess Royal Hospitals and write off the accumulated debt of the trust so that the new organisations are not saddled with historic debts. It will also negotiate an appropriate level of transitional funding to cover implementation.
With regard to the proposed service changes within the new merged Lewisham-Greenwich provider, the Secretary of State asked Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, Medical Director of the NHS, to consider if they would improve patient care.
On the basis of Sir Bruce’s advice, the Secretary of State has accepted the recommendation to centralise very specialist emergency care at 4 sites in South East London because this will significantly improve the quality of care and save the lives of up to 100 patients a year.
The Secretary of State understood the financial rationale for downgrading Lewisham A&E, but in the interests of local patients has imposed some additional clinical safeguards proposed by Sir Bruce. Lewisham Hospital will retain its ability to admit patients with less serious conditions, and will continue to have 24/7 senior medical emergency cover, allowing it to remain open as a working A&E department.
The administrator’s report entitled ‘Securing sustainable NHS services: the Trust Special Administrator’s report on South London Healthcare NHS Trust and the NHS in south east London‘, was presented to the Secretary of State on 7 January.
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