Lewisham A&E threat: Reduced service will have to serve 85,000 more people

Artists - is there anything they can't do? Ryan Gander has created this work for a project called Artists For the NHS in response to the threat to close Lewisham's A&E department. He sums it up:

Lewisham Hospital is a decent local hospital that serves a population of 250,000 – that’s a similar size to a small city like Hull. It is financially stable. It recently had its A&E refurbished at a cost of £22m. That A&E, and large other parts of the hospital, are now facing closure, leaving the population of the borough to try and get to hospitals in Greenwich or Bromley instead.

At the same time,Cllr Darren Johnson reports that the population that the reduced A&E service will have to serve a population that is forecast to grow by 85,000 by 2026. He says:

I will be asking the Mayor of London to oppose the closure of Lewisham A & E at Mayor’s Question Time on Wednesday morning. The Mayor’s own figures show that the population will grow rapidly in the three boroughs in the catchment area for Lewisham Hospital & the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.