Might I be permitted to correct a few points in the letter from Alexandra Ankrah.
Firstly, St. Anthony’s was opened by the Daughters of the Cross in 1904, 44 years before the founding of the NHS. At that time, patients who could afford to, paid the equivalent of private hospital fees today and this helped to cover the cost for patients with little or no financial resources.
With the arrival of the NHS in 1948, the large proportion of patients came to St. Anthony’s under contract from the local health authority but the income from private patients still contributed and with the loyal support of the local community, the Sisters were able to deliver high quality care to both private and NHS patients.
There are around 10 million people in the UK who are covered by private medical insurance. The large majority have it paid by their employer and are not excessively wealthy or privileged.
In 1974-5 when the health authority announced it would not be renewing the NHS contract, preferring instead to develop its own facilities, it came as a body blow, but the Sisters had faith that there was still a purpose to their work and were delighted when the continued success of the hospital allowed them to build St. Raphael’s Hospice alongside, offering free end of life care to all in the local area.
Whilst the local community contributes magnificently to the cost of running the hospice and the government contributes around 25% of the costs, the balance is presently funded by a hidden contribution from St. Anthony’s.
This covers much of the infrastructure costs including I.T, payroll, maintenance, infection control, and catering. The hospice also benefits enormously from free use of St. Bede’s, the hospital conference centre, both for training and education of its own staff and local healthcare professionals and in its many fundraising activities.
In addition to the free services of St. Raphael’s Hospice, St. Anthony’s Hospital is once again providing care without charge to NHS patients who are referred to it by local NHS Trusts. This includes many who come for cardiac surgery. It is a mistake to think that St. Anthony’s has no relevance to the mission of the Sisters.
While they are now older and fewer in number, their ethos has been fully taken on board by the lay staff who work for them. The history of the Cheam site has always been one of integrated public and private healthcare, which recognises the value of every individual, particularly the sick and suffering.
We live in a time when many public and private healthcare organisations are found to be failing in a duty of care, and both NHS and commercial hospital operators are obliged to focus on short term financial objectives.
St. Anthony’s and St. Raphael’s demonstrate that it is still possible to deliver high quality healthcare based on the latest technology but still delivered with compassionate care that treats every patient as an individual deserving of personal kindness and respect.
That is the context in which the proposed sale is now taking place.
Philip Cook
Marketing Manager, St. Anthony’s Hospital
- Send your letters to: letters@suttonguardian.co.uk
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