Emergency and maternity care could be cut from at least one south-west London hospital as NHS bosses struggle to meet financial demands and quality standards.
A draft sustainability and transformation plan (STP) drawn up by South West London Collaborative Commissioning (SWLCC) concludes “none of the [region’s] acute hospitals meet all of the London Quality Standards for urgent and emergency care” and all “over-rely on agency staff to support acute services”.
Acute care, which includes A&E, critical care, emergency surgery, maternity, paediatrics and stroke services, is currently provided at hospitals in St Helier, Epsom, Croydon, Kingston hospitals and St George’s in Tooting.
The five-year plan was published this week by the SWLCC, which comprises of NHS England and the clinical commission groups (CCG) for Sutton, Kingston, Merton, Richmond, Wandsworth and Croydon.