Time to go it alone?

The MP for Newark has suggested intervention by the health regulator, Monitor, could become the trigger for Newark Hospital to go it alone.

Mr Patrick Mercer has written to the new Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, calling for a meeting.

“It is absolutely clear the millstone of King’s Mill is working directly against the interests of Newark Hospital,” said Mr Mercer.

“Our hospital has made some excellent improvements but still has a long way to go.

“This might be the opportunity for Newark to break away from King’s Mill and its PFI and for us to plough our own furrow.”

Mr Mercer said everything he had heard from within the NHS and from ministers refuted suggestions Newark Hospital could close as a result of the trust’s lack of money.

“I can’t categorically say that in ten years’ time it won’t close,” he said. “What I can say is that I am constantly reassured it won’t.

“What I have said to my constituents is that if it does I will bare my backside in Burton’s window.”

Mr Mercer said he was not aware the under-use of Newark Hospital was as pronounced as Monitor had said. He said he was concerned at Monitor’s criticism of the board’s overseeing of the accounts.

“I would like the hospital people to explain that,” he said. “The thing that gives me great concern is that I don’t see evidence of future plans from the point of the expansion of Newark up to and including the Growth Point.”

The secretary of the Say Yes to Newark Hospital campaign, Mr Paul Baggaley, said: “We believe that people in Newark would get a better service if Newark Hospital was allowed to operate independently.

“There is evidence from all over the country that where small hospitals are in trusts that have large PFI contracts resources are drawn from the smaller hospital to sustain the PFI.

“We would not propose that an independent hospital at Newark would deliver specialist services.”

He said Newark people were being forced to travel further for their healthcare.

The chairman of Sherwood Forest Hospitals Foundation Trust, Tracy Doucét, said Monitor had concerns about hospitals that operated with turnovers of less than £220m. King’s Mill had a turnover of £250m, but Newark’s was just £14m.

“It would add money to the running costs if it was a separate entity, making Newark untenable,” she said. “Sherwood Forest took Newark over for that reason and is committed to protecting its viability.”