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19 October 2012 - Council and CCG make joint case for Queen Mary's Health Campus

Cllr Teresa O'Neill, Leader of the London Borough of Bexley and Dr Howard Stoate, Chairman of Bexley's Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), have today (19 October) written to Trust Special Administrator, Matthew Kershaw urging him to incorporate the proposal for a health campus on the site of Queen Mary's Hospital in Sidcup in his recommendations on the future of the South London Healthcare Trust (SLHT).

Their letter was sent in advance of Mr Kershaw's recommendations and the public consultation on the future of SLHT, which will start on Monday 29 October. It makes clear that there is strong local opposition to any plans to close Queen Mary's.

The health campus is at the centre of a model for the future of community-based care in Bexley that emerged from previous consultations. The campus proposal gained the support of NHS London, the South East London NHS Cluster, the CCG, local health providers and the Council. It has been shown to be affordable from the point of view of those who commission services, based on the assumptions in the TSA programme and the NHS Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention Programme.

"We are pressing the case for the Health Campus at Queen Mary's because we believe it would help us secure the best health outcomes for the people of Bexley," explained Cllr Teresa O'Neill. "It will help us improve our efficiency and provide better value by making it possible to integrate services across health and social care.

"The Health Campus would also make it possible to provide essential treatments closer to people's homes, so that fewer of our sick, elderly and infirm patients are forced to travel to central London.

"We are one of only two London boroughs without a district hospital and it's time that the needs of our residents are given the priority they deserve."

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