Hospital to close A&E and maternity services over winter

An NHS hospital in south London will be close its A&E and maternity departments over the winter period because of patient safety concerns.

The hospital’s chief has blamed this on a lack of staff, because of uncertainty about whether those services will stay open in the long run – they had been earmarked for closure by the pervious government.

Chris Streather, chief executive of South London Healthcare Trust, told reporters: "What we did in the early summer was I asked my medical director and the director of nursing to look at A&E and maternity very carefully to see if they are safe now and whether they can be kept safe for the whole of the winter period.

"Their conclusion was they were very anxious that we couldn't and that things wouldn't be safe over the winter period."