by Rudolf Richter

THE future of Queen Mary’s Hospital Sidcup has come under the spotlight as leading medics recommend moving specialist services out of two of the region’s four main hospitals.

Roger Smith, medical director at the hospital, and his counterparts in Bromley, Greenwich and Lewisham announced today that the consensus among clinicians was to concentrate specialist services on two main sites to improve patient safety and ensure that all specialist units would see enough patients per year to achieve better results.

A proposal on which two hospitals might lose out has not yet been made, but the age of Queen Mary’s compared to its modern cousin down the road in Orpington would make it a prime candidate for losing some services.

NHS bosses in the borough had previously stated that changes were likely.

The medical directors also recommended that services for most "urgent care" and outpatients should remain at all four hospitals: Queen Mary’s; The Princess Royal University, Orpington; Queen Elizabeth, Woolwich; and Lewisham University, Lewisham.

Patients suffering from heart attacks and strokes currently bypass all four hospitals to be treated at specialist centres at King’s Collge Hospital or Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital in London.

MPs have slammed the proposals as flawed.

Derek Conway, MP for Old Bexley and Sidcup, said: "Journey times in an emergency are critical and traffic conditions in outer south east London could mean the difference between life and death. One in five births requires intervention so having a qualified doctor available is not a luxury. Midwives do a splendid job but sometimes complications require a higher level of training and surgical intervention that cannot be provided at a midwifery unit but requires consultant maternity status."

John Austin, MP for Erith and Thamesmead, added: "The public will accept the need for changes in service delivery in the interests of providing improved patient services and better outcomes, but the medical directors will not get backing for such a drastic change."

A decision on what will happen will not be made until after public consultation has been carried out.

Do you think specialist services should be concentrated at two hospitals in the region? E-mail bexleyextra@thekmgroup.co.uk.