Campaigners Say Local Health Service Plans 'In Tatters'

After finance bosses reportedly refuse to underwrite changes

Health campaigners are claiming plans to restructure local health services could be 'in tatters' after NHS finance bosses have reportedly refused to fund the changes.

The ‘Shaping a Healthier Future’ plan - is the controversial programme to reshape hospital and out of hospital health and care services in North West London. Many believe the changes will lead to the downgrading and closure of local hospitals, including Ealing, Charing Cross and Hammersmith.

Health Bosses had requested £513 million for building work in ‘Outer’ North West London, an application at the heart of their plans. Campaigners fighting the changes now say this money has been refused by NHS Improvement, the NHS operational and financial regulator. 

They point to an article in the The ‘Health Service Journal’ (1 November 2017) quoting an NHS Improvement executive member who said ‘the numbers for activity reduction were not credible’.

Eric Leach, a researcher and committee member of Ealing Save Our NHS said,  “The 2012 Shaping a Healthier Future Programme and along with it the 2016 STP change programme are now in tatters.  Now nobody knows what will happen next. It’s time local health bosses concentrated on supporting Ealing Hospital instead of finding ways to downgrade it. 

''In our view the people in charge should resign, including the head of the SAHF and STP programmes and the chairs of the Clinical Commissioning Groups for Ealing, Brent, Central London, West London, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon and Hounslow.”

Eve Turner, Secretary of Ealing Save Our NHS, added: “It is quite incredible that NHS NW London executives have been allowed to spend several tens of millions of pounds on consultants and plans for NHS service changes without an approved business plan. That money should have gone to nurses, doctors and consultants, instead of bureaucrats, spin doctors and management consultants.”

A spokesperson for NHS Improvement (London) said, “‘Doing nothing’ is not a viable option in North West London. In Shaping a Healthier Future (SaHF), the NW London health and care system sets out a joined-up plan to deliver first-class health care for its population, and we support their commitment to do the right thing for their communities. A significant capital investment is needed in order to make the plans a reality, and SaHF remains a top priority for strategic capital investment in the London region.

“In our role as a system leader and regulator, it is right that we take time to properly scrutinise plans at every appropriate stage for a programme of this scale. As part of this scrutiny we have asked partners in the NWL health and care system to set out more clearly how they will work together to achieve some of the changes which Shaping a Healthier Future includes. There is no reason to think that this will have any impact on the timetable for delivering this important and much-needed change in North West London, or the capital funding for it, both of which will be subject to ongoing checks and assurances as this extensive programme moves forward.”

9 November 2017