Health campaigners have welcomed Merton Council’s opposition to the potential closure of an accident and emergency department ahead of a consultation on plans to reshape health provision in south west London.
Council leader Stephen Alambritis spoke out against the South West London Five Year Forward Plan, which campaigners from Keep Our St Helier Hospital (KOSHH) fear outlines plans for reducing the number of acute hospitals in the area from five to four, or even three.
A spokesperson for the NHS in south west London said the south west London Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) does not make any proposals for specific hospitals and that there are currently no plans to change any of the hospital sites in south west London. But KOSHH campaigners fear St Helier Hospital – in Wrythe Lane, Carshalton, which serves patients from across Sutton and Merton – could be closed or downgraded. The STP states: “Its 1930s structure prevents it ever being made compliant with modern standards for safe and high quality healthcare.”
Full story in Sutton Guardian, 11 April 2017