Lewisham Labour Party

Picture of Health Consultation - Help Us Save Lewisham Hospital

Lewisham Labour’s position on the ‘Picture of Health’ proposals is:

• We agree with the doctors that health care will improve as many more people are treated closer to home
• We believe that proposals to develop intermediate and hospital based homes services as well as urgent care centres are urgently required and should be implemented as soon as possible.
• We think that people in Lewisham naturally look towards St. Thomas’s and King’s, and so planning hospital services around Lewisham being ‘Outer South East London’ is fundamentally flawed.

We are campaigning for: -

• the maintenance of an Accident and Emergency service capable of dealing with all cases except those requiring highly specialist care (where bigger hospitals will provide better treatment)
• the excellent regional paediatric unit to be kept at Lewisham Hospital with its doctor-led maternity care
• the people of Lewisham who share our concerns to respond to the consultation by the closing date of the 7th April by visiting www.apictureofhealth.nhs.uk/ and selecting Option 2 to fight the proposed closures.

Labour have given Lewisham PCT another £23,467,000 this year alone.

The letter from the Labour Group, our 3 MPs, and AM Len Duvall:

To All Lewisham Residents

As your Labour elected representatives in Lewisham, we all agree that we have a responsibility to ensure that Lewisham residents continue to enjoy the best Health Care the NHS can provide.

Our starting point is simple. We all understand that the options set out in "A Picture of Health" would lead to changes in the services provided at University Hospital Lewisham (UHL) and in-patient maternity services, paediatrics and the Accident and Emergency department would be at risk.

We agree with the clinicians view outlined in the report that patients should be treated closer to their homes and that this should be coupled with developing hospital based homes services and urgent care centres as soon as possible.

However, we strongly disagree with the assumption that Lewisham belongs in Outer South East London an area "coined" by the "Picture of Health" consultation documents. This is a fundamental error and would be at odds with our residents' sense of where they live.

We strongly assert that we are part of the inner South East quadrant of London and identify far more with our neighbouring boroughs Southwark and Lambeth. We think that our residents would identify far more with Kings and St Thomas’s when seeking out their health care needs and making their choices.

We will also argue for keeping an Accident and Emergency service in Lewisham capable of dealing with all cases except those requiring highly specialised care; the retention of the excellent regional paediatric unit and the retention of doctor led maternity care, while also seeking to improve safety for mothers and babies and addressing significant staff shortages in this area.

All residents who share our concerns about the future of Hospital services in Lewisham are encouraged to respond to this consultation by the 7th April.

Sir Steve Bullock – Mayor of Lewisham

Jim Dowd MP

Bridget Prentice MP

Joan Ruddock MP

Len Duvall AM

Cllr Alan Hall –

Chair Lewisham Labour Group Councillors

And your Labour Councillors and Mayor tabled a motion at Lewisham Council on this issue too

Motion in the names of Mayor Steve Bullock, Seconded by Cllr. Alan Hall
In order to address both financial and clinical issues in the NHS in South East London a series of proposals have been published by the Primary Care Trusts for

Bexley, Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham called "A Picture of Health" .

All the options set out in "A Picture of Health" would lead to changes in the services provided at University Hospital Lewisham (UHL) with in-patient maternity

services, paediatrics and the Accident and Emergency department being at risk.

This Council welcomes the intention signalled in the report and led by clinicians to improve health care by seeking to treat patients closer to their homes. We believe that proposals to develop intermediate and hospital based homes services as well as urgent care centres are urgently required and should be implemented

as soon as possible.

The Council further notes however that all the "Picture of Health" proposals are based on the assumption that the future of services in Lewisham should be planned in the context of what has been referred to as "Outer South East London". We believe it is a fundamental error to see UHL as being in outer London and

that the future of hospital care in Lewisham must involve looking west and north to St. Thomas’s and Kings which is what our community will do.

This Council resolves to respond to the consultation by seeking the maintenance of an Accident and Emergency service capable of dealing with all cases except those requiring highly specialised care; the retention of the excellent regional paediatric unit and the retention of doctor led maternity care, while also seeking to

improve safety for mothers and babies and working to address significant staff shortages in this area.

Facebook this article