Lewisham Hospital to be "biggest casualty" of recommended healthcare restructure

The Draft Report of the Special Administrator appointed to sort out the mess that the South London Healthcare NHS Trust got itself into has now been published. You can download a full copy here.

UPDATE: London Tonight reports that "University Hospital Lewisham is the biggest casualty of the shake-up - set to lose both A&E and maternity."

UPDATE: Journalist James Poulter has listed the key changes for Lewisham, including:

- Full admitting accident and emergency department becomes a Non-admitting urgent care centre 
- 24/7 surgical emergency admissions end 
- Obstetric and co-located midwife led-birthing unit becomes Potential obstetric and co-located midwife led-birthing unit 
- 24/7 emergency medicine end 
- Critical care unit end 
- Inpatient padeatric service end 
- Complex inpatiant surgery end  

The key passage for residents concerned about the fate of Lewisham's A&E department appears to be this one:

The urgent care services at Guy’s Hospital and Queen Mary’s Hospital Sidcup are already well established. The draft recommendation is for University Hospital Lewisham to have a 24/7 urgent care service that will treat around 77% of the people currently attending the A&E and urgent care services there.

This is because the vast majority of patients with urgent care needs do not need to be admitted. The types of conditions the services will be able to treat include: 

- Illnesses and injuries not likely to need a stay in hospital
- X-rays and other tests
- Minor fracture (breaks)
- Stitching wounds
- Draining abscesses that do not need general anaesthetic
- Minor ear, nose, throat and eye infections.

More to come.