HEALTH bosses are going to miss their 2014 target for the closure of the borough’s A&E ward because there is still too much demand, campaigners have claimed.
Maternity services are due end at King George Hospital in Ilford next year, with A&E closing the following year, but the figures used to justify the decisions are coming under increasing scrutiny.
Redbridge Council officers discovered last month that figures from the 2011 census, showing a booming population in the borough, had not been taken into account.
And health chiefs were challenged by councillors during heated exchanges on Monday over a predicted 12 per cent increase in the birth rate over the next five years.
Cllr Hugh Cleaver said: “There is significant increase in demand and it seems slightly odd that you are addressing that by reducing capacity by taking out one of the maternity units.”
Heather Mullin, who is overseeing the changes on behalf of NHS North East London and City (NELC) defended the figures, adding: “I am clear that the numbers do stack up in terms of population growth and that we are not out of kilter.”
Changes in the catchment area for maternity hospitals in north east London are already under way, with more mothers in Redbridge using Whipps Cross rather than King George.
But Averil Dongworth, the chief executive of Barking Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust (BHRUT) said there was no fixed date yet for the closure of A&E services at King George Hospital.
“Performance is getting better,” she added.
“But, just as we think we are getting there, it slips back again.”
She reacted angrily when Cllr Filly Maravala asked her if she was grateful to the scrutiny committee for asking the health secretary to put reconfiguration plans on hold.
She told him: “I would invite you to actually talk to the staff at King George.
“We are talking here about patients first, patients first, but you only get good treatment when you have highly motivated staff.
“Staff at King George have been marched up the hill and down again, up the hill and down again, up the hill and down again.
“What they need is a bit of certainty.”
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