The campaign to stop the closure of the Bolingbroke Hospital continues at pace
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| Mark Clarke campaigning to save the Bolingbroke |
Despite a consultation where 91% of respondents voted to keep the Bolingbroke open and 1000s of local residents signed petitions to save the hospital, local NHS trusts have pushed ahead with the plans for closure.
Wandsworth Council has fought this decision all the way, together with the Friends of Bolingbroke and your local Conservatives. They have managed to get the decision referred to the Secretary of State for Health and force a second public consultation.
To make your views known write to the Secretary of State for Health asking him to intervene. You can write to him at: The Department of Health, 79 Whitehall, London SW1A 2NS; or email: johnsona@parliament.uk. To take part in the local consultation, please call 020 8682 6835.
Despite having huge amounts of money in recent years St George’s Hospital Trust have completely mismanaged their budgets. They have run up debts of £37 million - and now they are looking for a way to meet the shortfall by shutting the Bolingbroke.
The root cause of this problem is the way that the government have funded the NHS with a ‘feast and famine’ policy. Lots of money one year, hardly any the next and no proper planning. As a result popular local hospitals are sold to developers to cover short term deficits.
That’s why the Conservatives have pledged that the NHS will have an independent board running it. The NHS is too important to play short term politics with.
The question therefore remains, had Tooting’s Labour MP stood up for local residents and spoken out against the closure, would the Labour Health Secretary still have closed it? We’ll never know.