Ignored £1m health consultation a waste

4:28pm Thursday 4th September 2008

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I READ with interest the comments made by Kate Grimes regarding the future, or lack of it, for Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup (Chief's High Hopes For Area's Hospital, News Shopper, August 13).

It must be remembered all the comments now being made are on the basis of decisions made in advance of any consultation process, which cost the public in excess of £1m. What a complete waste of public money.

It was always stated the reasons for contraction of services was financial and not clinical.

Every week the four hospitals were spending £400,000 more than their budgets between them.

A position which has been made worse by the two Private Finance Initiative hospitals.

If everyone now says only large hospitals can survive, how long will it be before we only have the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the Princess Royal University Hospital?

We should not forget six hospitals in the area have closed and the seventh, the Memorial, provides extremely limited services.

The question which has not been addressed is why we need chief executives, directors of finance and the enormous back-up staff if there has never been any financial control.

Why do we need these people if they were not planning for the future of their individual hospitals and the patients they serve?

The final question must be why no-one has accepted responsibility for the projected overspending of £20.8m by March this year.

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