Bart’s Rebuilding Must Go on, Demand 1,000 Doctors

By KIRAN RANDHAWA

MORE than 1,000 doctors have written in protest against government plans to scrap the rebuilding of Bart’s and the Royal London hospital.

Medical staff, including 450 consultants, from St Bartholomew’s in the City and the Royal London in Whitechapel have signed a letter complaining about proposals that could threaten the Pounds 1.15 billion redevelopment.

The Department of Health failed to sign off the scheme – which also includes hospitals in Liverpool, Bristol and Newcastle – before Christmas and is considering the exclusion of Bart’s.

Ministers fear that hospitals due to be rebuilt under the controversial Private Finance Initiative (PFI) may not be able to service their debts.

Trusts repay the capital raised by private companies through 25- year service agreements. Chancellor Gordon Brown has championed PFI schemes to fund big public-sector developments without the Treasury paying in advance.

But ministers now fear spiralling costs could leave trusts bankrupt and the Department of Health footing the bill. The dilemma was brought into stark relief after a London hospital, which opened under the PFI scheme, admitted it is technically bankrupt.

Last month the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, in Woolwich, said it was nearly Pounds 20million in debt. Queen Mary’s hospital in Sidcup is also Pounds 10million overspent, Lewisham Hospital is Pounds 6.9 million in the red, and the primary care trusts in Bexley and Southwark are Pounds 2 million overspent.

In their letter to the Times, signatories representing more than 1,000 doctors call on Prime Minister Tony Blair to rescue the schemes. The letter reads: “These hospitals have some of the best clinical outcomes for the treatment of cancer and heart disease.

“They serve Europe’s most ethnically diverse population.

The loss of any of these services-would be damaging to the health of this vulnerable population and irretrievably damage our medical school.”

After a 1998 Evening Standard campaign, Frank Dobson, then health secretary, promised Bart’s would stay open. The Department of Health acknowledges the promise will constrain ministers’ actions.

But the contract with private partner Skanska lapses at the end of the month, so time for a decision is short.

A review will look into whether cancer and cardiac services at Bart’s could be relocated. But Dr Duncan Dymond, a consultant cardiologist there, said the deal could not now be unpicked. He said: “Everything is complete, down to the position of the electric sockets in the walls.”