Burstow slams Health Minister over short-term decisions at St Helier

12.00.00am GMT Mon 12th Mar 2007

Paul Burstow, MP for Sutton and Cheam, has blasted Health Minister Andy Burnham over chaos at Epsom and St Helier Hospital Trust, as he revealed that beds closed in October 2006 were reopened only weeks later to cope with increased demand in December.

Information obtained by Mr Burstow under the Freedom of Information Act show that C4 unit, containing 15 beds, was closed in October only to be reopened in December to cope with rises in demand. In addition, SAU beds were reduced from 26 to 14 in October, but increased to 19 in November and back to the original 26 by December. Mr Burstow dismissed the closure and re-opening of beds as short-term thinking which put staff morale and patient safety at risk.

Mr Burstow raised the matter in Parliament with Health Reform Minister Andy Burnham, challenging him on the consequences of government policy which is forcing Epsom and St Helier to save £24 million over 2 years. His question comes as the Trust confirmed that St Helier will lose a further 23 beds from March onwards, as beds at the Clinical and Surgical assessment units are reduced.

Commenting after challenging the Minister, Paul Burstow MP said:

"It is high time Ministers took responsibility for what is happening at Hospitals like St Helier."

"The government's insistence that the Trust makes massive savings over such a short period of time has created chaos: beds are being closed one month only to be reopened the next."

"This is the government's idea of crisis management: it creates a crisis and then expects the NHS to manage its way out of it."

"This information clearly shows that this approach is not working - the government must call a halt before the chaos costs lives."