ALARMED Bexley councillors have threatened to stop the planned closure of the accident and emergency department at Queen Mary’s Hospital Sidcup.

They fear the necessary expansion of other A&E departments, promised as part of A Picture of Health (APOH), will not be ready in time for the Sidcup closure, scheduled for September this year.

At the council’s health scrutiny committee committee last week, councillors tore into Dr Chris Streather, chief executive of the South London Healthcare Trust, which now runs the Sidcup Hospital.

One councillor accused him of being “smug”.

The chairman of the committee, Councillor Ross Downing had previously written to the trust demanding the details of the trust’s expected deficit for 2009/10 and the arrangements being made to expand A&E services at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) in Woolwich and the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRU) in Farnborough.

Cllr Downing said they were told the trust had set a deficit target for the year of £29.7m.

But by month seven, the deficit was already £29.6m.

Just two months later, this had risen by £8.3m to £37.9m and by the end of February the deficit was £47.8m.

By the end of this financial year, the trust expects to be £46.7m in the red.

This includes £6m it borrowed from NHS London because of its cashflow problems and a reduction in projected income of £4.1m.

The trust says it is already tackling some of the reasons for the overspend, which include too many expensive temporary staff, longer than average hospital stays by patients, and delays in restructuring.

The council committee also demanded to know what progress is being made on the APOH programme to reorganise hospital services in outer south east London, which will see emergency services removed from Queen Mary’s.

Cllr Downing described the trust’s response as “very vague”.

A report to today’s (March 31) trust board meeting acknowledges the programme to achieve all the APOH proposals will be difficult.

It says there is “a fundamental mismatch” between the target date of September this year for the closure of Queen Mary’s A&E department and the completion of the new theatres needed to cope with the influx of patients from QEH and PRU for planned operations.

It is looking at a series of temporary “enabling moves” which will see services at Queen Mary’s such as opthalmology, moved out of the hospital for up to two years, to prepare for the changeover to a planned surgery centre.

The report also identifies a number of high risk problems for the project, one of which is the possibility that the new buildings needed to complete the project, will not be ready in time for the changes in hospital services.

Cllr Downing pointed out the when the Health Secretary Alan Johnson approved the APOH plans, he said replacement facilities must be in place before the changes were made.

She said “We are now in April and they have only got until September to make this work.

“We will be keeping a very close watch on what is going on.”

She told Dr Streather: “ If we feel that you are jeopardising patient safety by closing the A&E at Queen Mary's before the necessary measures are in place, I would like to make it very clear to you that this committee will take steps to stop you."