THE CONTROVERSIAL decision to close the borough’s only A&E department is being “reviewed to make sure it is still appropriate”, according to a Health Minister.

When Ilford North and South MPs Wes Streeting and Mike Gapes got an adjournment debate to discuss the plans to close King George Hospital’s A&E in July, Minister of State for Health Philip Dunne said it is “most unlikely” it will have shut its doors by 2019.

The decision was originally taken in 2011 by former Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, who argued resources would be better concentrated at BHRUT’s larger Queen’s Hospital and downgrading King George’s emergency department to an “urgent care centre”.

But he stressed the changes would only happen when Queen’s and Whipps Cross in Leytonstone could take the extra strain.

In January the bosses of the Government’s North East London Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) said they hope the changes will be safe to implement by 2019 – but Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt claimed he did not see them happening “in the foreseeable future”.

Conflicting messages have left residents, patients, and staff confused, with politicians desperate for clarity on the issue – including Redbridge’s Labour council and MPs who want the plans scrapped altogether.

But a letter from Mr Dunne last week has given campaigners fresh hope.

The letter to Mike Gapes reads: “NHS England recognises there have been a number of changes since the decision was first made, and has provided assurances that procedures are in place to ensure the proposals remain appropriate and relevant.

“They include: The STP team is reviewing and re-validating the modelling used in 2010 to ensure the proposals are still appropriate.”

“The local NHS has also emphasised that no changes will be made until it is fully satisfied there is additional capacity at neighbouring hospitals and patient safety will not be compromised – this will be 2019 at the earliest.”

Mr Gapes maintains the plans to close the A&E are a “false economy”.

He said: “The dire reality is that there is no additional resource available to provide the beds for 400 patients at King George overall. If the A&E closed, where would those patients go.

“There would be a need for capital investment at Queen’s and for big capital investment at Whipps Cross.

“That would take time and resources, at a time when NHS budgets are seriously pressed. And we still have that huge deficit in our regional health economy.”