Tories 'sorry' for A&E closure campaign blunder

David Cameron was forced to defend his campaign against A&E and maternity unit closures today after one of his own MPs denied his local hospital was under threat.

As the Tory leader visited two more of the 29 district general hospitals on his "at risk" list, Henry Bellingham said the Queen Elizabeth hospital in King's Lynn should not be on it.

He apologised to its staff and criticised the lack of consultation by party chiefs in drawing up the list, launched yesterday in a bid to wrest back the political initiative from Labour.

Amid reports that other hospitals were also disputing that they faced closures, Mr Cameron stood by his claims and insisted they were based on the latest research.

"What we have done is include a list of hospitals, all of which are under some form of threat.

"We stand by what we say in our document, and we could have included many other hospitals," he said as he toured Sandwell General Hospital in West Bromwich.

Mr Cameron said that patients were angry about proposed changes to district general hospitals, which he said would lead to the loss of many maternity and A & E units.

"People cannot understand that cutting A & E and maternity units is progress," he said.

"People who pay their money to the NHS want to see their services saved not cut."

Mr Bellingham earlier told the BBC his party had got its facts wrong.

"Obviously a mistake has been made and as a local MP I wasn't consulted on this and I apologise unreservedly to the staff of the hospital," he said.

"I do think there's a lesson for all opposition parties, all parties actually, and the Government. If they are issuing a statement that affects an organisation, be it a hospital, the police, some school, they should always consult the chief executive or the headmaster or whoever it is."

Mr Cameron called district hospitals "the heart of the NHS" and has promised a "bare-knuckle fight" with Gordon Brown over NHS cuts.

The party admitted it had made one mistake on the list by including Altrincham Hospital instead of Trafford.

But it stood by the others and appeared set on a collision course with Mr Bellingham, insisting Government figures showed his hospital's maternity unit was under threat.

A spokeswoman for Mr Cameron described the doubts expressed over the accuracy of the campaign as "complete nonsense".

She cited a consultation document which said maternity units in North Norfolk with a live birth rate of under 3,000 a year were unviable.

"Of course the Government and the strategic health authorities are going to defend their management of it all, but they are all under consultation and they are all under threat," she said.

Mr Bellingham was in a "difficult position" with his "local hospital putting pressure on him", she added.

Plans to move maternity services from Huddersfield to Halifax prompted a public outcry last year.

Martin DeBono, clinical director of children and women's services at Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We totally refute any suggestion that Huddersfield Royal Infirmary has been downgraded or is under threat of closure.

"Indeed the opposite is true, with the HRI site being developed to provide stronger, improved services for patients by this Trust as a result of the changes.

"We are delighted to welcome David Cameron to meet some of our staff and our patients today as we are proud of our excellent record of delivering high quality health care for the communities of Calderdale and Huddersfield.

"We have recently undergone major changes in the way we deliver some services in the interests of developing and strengthening local services for our patients into the future."

A spokesman for NHS Yorkshire and Humber said it was looking at the "safest and most effective way of delivering care".

He said: "NHS reforms are improving the treatment and services available for patients.

"They are not cost-cutting exercises, they are about providing the most appropriate care in the right setting and location; saving lives, not saving money.

"The recent decision made in Calderdale and Huddersfield was based on guaranteeing the safety and health of mothers and their babies."

A spokesman for Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust said neither the accident and emergency department nor the maternity unit at City Hospital in Birmingham, one of those listed by Mr Cameron, was under threat of closure.

He said: "The A&E department and maternity units for both our hospitals are fine.

"In fact, we are investing money into City Hospital's maternity unit at the moment.

"There is no threat of closure of the A&E department or the maternity unit."

Fiona Reid, spokeswoman for North Bristol NHS Trust, said the Tory claim that Frenchay Hospital's A&E service faces the axe was "simply not the case".

The department would be integrated into a new acute hospital, she said.

Ms Reid said: "Frenchay Hospital's emergency department is not under threat.

"When the new acute hospital at Southmead is built by 2013-14, the Trust's emergency department will move to Southmead along with other acute specialist services.

"This is part of the reconfiguration of health services in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire that was agreed in March 2005."

Mr Cameron met staff and patients at Sandwell General Hospital, which is not one of the 29 on the "at risk" list, but which the Tories say would have to absorb patients if Birmingham's City Hospital suffered cuts.

He reiterated his faith in the policy document, and responded to stout denials by a number of the named hospitals, including City Hospital, that units were under threat.

"It is certainly the case that at least 29 hospitals face the threat of reconfiguration or outright closure," he said.

"It's up to them to show that services are not at risk. All the examples we have drawn are taken from consultation documents."

Mark Purcell, a spokesman for Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, south-east London, insisted that as yet nothing had been decided.

He said: "The hospital is part of - or may be part of - a consultation process but at the moment there is no threat."

He added that any changes would not affect the running of the units: "If there is a consultation we are very confident and optimistic that it will not be impacting on our accident and emergency department or on our maternity department."

Lewisham Hospital, also in south-east London, said nothing was set in stone.

A spokesman for the hospital said: "There may be a consultation on the future of hospital services in south-east London, but there are currently no proposals in the public domain.

"The discussions from MPs about the future of hospitals are speculative and there has been no consultation on the way that services will be structured.

"There may be a consultation in the future, but at this stage no proposals have been decided upon."

Mr Cameron claimed Trafford General Hospital should have replaced Altrincham on the list.

But a Trafford Healthcare NHS spokesman said he was "bemused and surprised" that Altrincham was wrongly included and accused Mr Cameron of "mixing up issues" by citing Trafford as facing A&E and maternity closures.

He said Trafford's maternity and children's services were part of a Greater Manchester and Derbyshire-wide consultation with the Department of Health. He insisted that Trafford A&E was safe.

Copyright Press Association 2007.

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