An MP is telling Sutton’s doctors to get off the fence and to stand up for their patients in the wake of a High Court decision to throw out plans to downgrade Lewisham Hospital.

Last Wednesday Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt had his decision to downgrade A&E and maternity at Lewisham declared unlawful and quashed by the High Court.

Part of the reason was because local GP commissioners were strongly opposed to the proposals.

St Helier Hospital’s A&E, maternity and children’s services are at risk of closure under the Better Services Better Value (BSBV) review and earlier this year the GPs in charge of Sutton’s healthcare put the plans one step closer to implementation by voting for the proposals to go to public consultation.

The Sutton and Cheam MP Paul Burstow said: "The Lewisham Judgement is another spanner in the works, for the increasingly discredited BSBV plans, it really is time our GPs got off the fence and stood up and spoke up for patients.

"My big fear is that Sutton's GPs have been sedated by BSBV and are sleepwalking towards rubber stamping their plans. 

"The best thing Sutton GPs could do now is refuse to consult on such an ill conceived set of plans. That is the message every borough resident should be giving to their GP."

A BSBV spokesman said the two processes at St Helier and Lewisham are different and that the Government will appeal the high court decision. 

He said: "The BSBV proposals have been developed by local clinicians. The process we have followed is governed by different legislation and guidance which we have and will continue to follow."

A spokesperson for Sutton Clinical Commissioning Group said their GPs voted publicly for BSBV’s three options, two of which earmark St Helier to be downgraded, to go to public consultation.

They said: "We believe that these options, which have been developed by over 150 local clinicians, provide possible ways of making NHS services in Sutton safe and sustainable for the future."

 

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