§ 7. Sir Michael NeubertTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans she has to make an official visit to Oldchurch hospital, Romford, to assess the effectiveness of the accident and emergency service.
§ Dr. MawhinneyAs my hon. Friend knows, I had the pleasure of visiting Havering hospitals national health service trust on 14 February this year. It is the responsibility of the local health authority to ensure that the most effective possible accident and emergency service is available for the people of Barking and Havering.
§ Sir Michael NeubertIs not any proposal to reduce accident and emergency services, such as that in the Barking and Havering health district, a matter of understandable concern? Should not ease of access by road and proximity to the main centres of population be the overriding factors in determining the location of casualty departments? Does not that consideration point to the continuing need for Oldchurch hospital in that all important life-and-death role?
§ Dr. MawhinneyMy hon. Friend is right in identifying a number of those features: they are exactly the sort of features, together with the public response, that the health authority must take into account. My hon. Friend will know that, following the public consultation, the health authority has already said that it wishes to have more information before coming to a judgment. I encourage my hon. Friend to keep reflecting to the health authority the views that he has so eloquently expressed on his constituents' behalf, today and to me in private.
§ Ms PrimaroloThe Minister will be aware of the problems already being experienced by Redbridge healthcare trust and that the closure of the Oldchurch hospital will put extra pressure on the accident and emergency units. Will he explain to the House why the Government are not only closing accident and emergency units in London but, with the closure of the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Hackney, plan to reduce the number of paediatric beds in London by more than half by 2003? How will children in London be treated under his Government?
§ Dr. MawhinneyI am happy to be able to tell the hon. Lady that children in London are getting better treatment than they ever have before and that that will continue to be the case. I am aware of the concerns about Redbridge healthcare NHS trust. I am also aware, as the hon. Lady may not be, that the response of the Redbridge healthcare NHS trust to the public consultation was welcoming. It made it clear publicly that it would have preferred the centralisation to be at the Harold Wood hospital. As I have told the House before, if there are to be changes in accident and emergency provision in London, they will take place only when we are entirely satisfied that adequate and appropriate alternative arrangements are in place.
§ Mr. WolfsonMay I ask a broader question on the issue of accident and emergency units?
§ Madam SpeakerOrder. The question is much narrower than that. Does the hon. Member's question refer to Romford and Oldchurch hospital?
§ Mr. WolfsonIn comparison with the Romford situation, Madam Speaker, what criteria are used, in deciding whether such a unit should remain open, to measure the time that it takes to get emergency cases to accident and emergency units in times of heavy traffic?
§ Dr. MawhinneyAs in Romford, Oldchurch, Havering and other parts of the country, it is for the local health authority to consult, taking into account local circumstances and expert advice, before making judgments about what is appropriate.