J B Kaufman - Scotsdale Close, Petts Wood (From News Shopper)

J B Kaufman - Scotsdale Close, Petts Wood

in Letters

I completely agree with Dr Christopher Knight's letter in which he concluded that the suggested closure of Orpington Hospital was a long term plan.

It is well understood that South London Healthcare Trust must try to mitigate the vast overspend at the Princess Royal University Hospital, which has arisen as a direct result of government obsession with building hospitals and other public facilities by means of public/private partnerships.

Use of this method of funding keeps any money spent off the government balance sheets as no capital is used but it saddles the management of the hospital with enormous rental costs for years.

The latest investigation into this method of financing by the Parliamentary Treasury Select Committee last year reported that it was an extremely inefficient method of finance and that unacceptable profits were being made by the private partners.

In the PRUH's case the debts incurred in the first few years of the public/private partnership have made things much worse. Debt in 2007 was reported to be in excess of £47m.

In the short term closing Orpington would help the trust to save money and would generate a large capital sum by the sale of building land.

Medium and long term it is a very bad decision but once it's gone it's gone.

Patients come last.

It may not be possible to save the hospital but I am sure that most Bromley residents would like to see a fully costed budget and brief advising what could be dealt with at Orpington.

They would also like to see what has left the hospital and what additional costs have been incurred as a result of departments moved into new properties when they could have gone to Orpington.

An independent rethink is urgently called for.

J B Kaufman
Scotsdale Close, Petts Wood