'Rethink hospital cuts on elderly' says MP (From The Westmorland Gazette)

'Rethink hospital cuts on elderly' says MP

3:23pm Monday 23rd June 2008 in Save Our NHS By The Westmorland Gazette

AN MP has called for forthcoming cuts at Westmorland General Hospital to be scrapped, amid predictions that South Lakeland’s elderly population is to swell.

Following a report in The Westmorland Gazette last week, which revealed the number of pensioners in the area was to rise by 64,000 by 2029, Tim Farron has repeated his call for emergency medical services at the Kendal hospital to be maintained.

The MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale this week wrote to Cumbria Primary Care Trust (PCT) and the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust – which runs WGH and is mid-way through a review of its acute medical care – urging bosses to have a “rethink”.

“It’s very clear that the local population is to get much more elderly over the next few years. Add to that the continued growth in visitor numbers to the area, plus South Lakeland District Council’s Local Development Framework – which says there is a need for 8,000 more homes over the next 20 years – and it becomes clear that demand for the kind of services they (the trust) are getting rid of at WGH, is only going to go up,” he said.

“This information is out there in the public realm and it should necessitate a rethink. I’m calling for Tony Halsall (chief executive of the trust) and Sue Page (chief executive of the PCT) to rip up these plans to close the hospital to acute admissions, and start all over again.

“The decision to close the heart unit and the other medical emergency wards at WGH, which was made two years ago on the basis of information gained in the years preceding that, is now past its sell-by date.”