Updated: 14 April Fresh from the closure of Chislehurst’s local A&E facility at Queen Mary’s Hospital, there is a new threat to healthcare services. There are fears that the Elmstead Rehabilitation Unit, which has around 400 patients mostly with Multiple Sclerosis, could close.
The unit, on the Queen Mary campus, is under review by the Bexley Care Trust which wants to establish if it is cost effective.
The Elmstead Rehabilitation Unit is the only facility in the region that deals with serious neuro disorders. As well as MS, it treats patients with cord injuries, Guillain Barre Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Ataxias and Muscular Dystrophy.
A campaign group has formed to highlight the issue. It is aiming for 100,000 signatures to force a discussion in Parliament. Click here for details.
Brokenshire visiting Elmstead patients
The campaign has the backing of James Brokenshire, Conservative MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup.
He said: “The Elmstead Unit offers specialist care locally which is very difficult to find outside of a central London teaching hospital. Many patients described it to me as unique.
“It strikes me as the sort of facility that we should be promoting at Queen Mary’s and I am deeply concerned that there should be a dark cloud hovering over its future. I will be doing all that I can to ensure that this important local service is retained.”
The news comes as David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Health Secretary Andrew Lansley have launched a fresh drive to sell their healthcare reforms to the public, described as a “major listening exercise”.
Lansley has been heavily criticised by local residents for not listening to their concerns that he has failed to honour a pre-Election pledge to prevent the forced closure of the A&E at Queen Mary’s Hospital.
The unit closed last November in what the South London Healthcare NHS Trust described as a “temporary” measure. But Despite the A&E unit being gutted and even the receptionist at the hospital laughing off the idea of it ever re-opening, the Trust still refuses to say that the closure is permanent.
In a discussion with ChislehurstNews the Trust insisted that the closure will become permanent only when proposals for a new ‘health campus’ on the site are formally accepted.
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AFTER A&E CLOSURE, AXE NOW HANGS OVER MS UNIT
The unit, on the Queen Mary campus, is under review by the Bexley Care Trust which wants to establish if it is cost effective.
The Elmstead Rehabilitation Unit is the only facility in the region that deals with serious neuro disorders. As well as MS, it treats patients with cord injuries, Guillain Barre Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Ataxias and Muscular Dystrophy.
A campaign group has formed to highlight the issue. It is aiming for 100,000 signatures to force a discussion in Parliament. Click here for details.
Brokenshire visiting Elmstead patients
The campaign has the backing of James Brokenshire, Conservative MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup.
He said: “The Elmstead Unit offers specialist care locally which is very difficult to find outside of a central London teaching hospital. Many patients described it to me as unique.
“It strikes me as the sort of facility that we should be promoting at Queen Mary’s and I am deeply concerned that there should be a dark cloud hovering over its future. I will be doing all that I can to ensure that this important local service is retained.”
The news comes as David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Health Secretary Andrew Lansley have launched a fresh drive to sell their healthcare reforms to the public, described as a “major listening exercise”.
Lansley has been heavily criticised by local residents for not listening to their concerns that he has failed to honour a pre-Election pledge to prevent the forced closure of the A&E at Queen Mary’s Hospital.
The unit closed last November in what the South London Healthcare NHS Trust described as a “temporary” measure. But Despite the A&E unit being gutted and even the receptionist at the hospital laughing off the idea of it ever re-opening, the Trust still refuses to say that the closure is permanent.
In a discussion with ChislehurstNews the Trust insisted that the closure will become permanent only when proposals for a new ‘health campus’ on the site are formally accepted.
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