United front against hospital proposals

The MP for Newark, Mr Patrick Mercer, and the Save Newark Hospital Campaign are calling for services at the hospital to be retained and expanded.

They are demanding that NHS Nottinghamshire County retains an emergency department and associated services, allows blue light ambulance admissions at the hospital, and withdraws any proposed closure of wards.

Mr Mercer said the recent revelations about the threat to a medical ward and the decision on the minor injuries unit plus had absolutely appalled him.

“We have been badly let down,” he said.

On Friday he contacted the office of the Secretary of State for Health, Mr Andrew Lansley, and an emergency visit to the hospital by his deputy, Mr Simon Burns, was organised.

Mr Mercer said the Government took the situation so seriously that the visit was scheduled for Thursday.

A request will be made today by Mr Mercer for the review to be called in. His request will be discussed further with Mr Burns on Thursday.

Mr Burns will also speak to representatives from the Primary Care Trust, Sherwood Forest Hospitals Trust, local GPs, East Midlands Ambulance Service and hospital campaigners.

Threat

Mr Mercer said Mr Burns had looked at the whole review but was not going to comment until he visited next week.

Mr Mercer said the threat to a medical ward and the commissioning of a minor injuries unit plus threw a completely new light on the hospital’s future.

“The idea that we are not only going to lose A & E but not have an urgent care centre as well flies directly in the face of everything that I have been told for the past 18 months and the wishes of my constituents,” he said.

The chairman of the Save Newark Hospital Campaign, Dr Ian Campbell, said the public had been misled because the PCT’s business case for emergency care contradicted the consultation.

He said: “The public consultation document clearly says under option one, which the PCT was recommending to its board: ‘This means that we could provide the same level of care that is currently available at Newark.’

“However, the business case says that the hospital will now not accept medical emergencies.”

Dr Campbell said the PCT had failed to offer a clear definition of what services the new unit would offer in the future.

The leader of Newark and Sherwood District Council, Mr Tony Roberts, said people had been let down by the PCT.

He said the consequences of the review had not been clearly laid out.

“It should have been sensed that this is a hugely emotional question in Newark, that it needed to be dealt with sensitively and that people needed to be told everything they needed to know,” he said.

“Keeping silent and telling people like this — that breeds resentment.”

The Save Newark Hospital Campaign ballot in Newark Market Place tomorrow gives people a chance to have their say once more on services provided at the hospital.

Campaigners will be out from 8am to 4pm.

In a first ballot two weeks ago 131 people, in four hours, voted to retain current A & E services.