More heavyweight voices in hospital closure debate

The BMA and NHS Confederation have joined the King’s Fund and RCN in calling for a reconfiguration of hospital services.

As reported on www.nationalhealthexecutive.com, King’s Fund chief executive Chris Ham has argued: “Up to 20 hospitals, around 10% of the total in England, may not be financially sustainable and will have to be merged or taken over.

“Governments have ducked these issues for too long, while MPs have ignored clinical and financial evidence and backed campaigns to keep local hospitals and specialist units open. It is time for politicians to grasp the nettle.”

A BMA spokesman told the Guardian newspaper: “There can and should be reconfiguration when it is driven by the needs of patients, and the professional advice of clinicians.

“There is a crucial distinction between clinically driven reconfiguration, and changes that are motivation by purely financial considerations.”

Mike Farrar, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said that new ways of delivering services will “inevitably include changing the pattern and content of hospital, community and primary care”.

He added: “We need politicians to support the NHS in making the necessary changes, but would only expect support where we can demonstrate improvements in quality and outcomes that will follow. However, where these are demonstrated, it is essential that local NHS leaders and local politicians are honest and straight forward about the need for change.”