Grantham Hospital - a death sentence?

27 June 2006

“This is a terrible day for Grantham – certainly one of the blackest in its history – the day the death sentence was pronounced on Grantham as a General District Hospital.

It is impossible to exaggerate the seriousness of the situation we now face. Not only has our Health Trust proposed to remove all surgery (other than orthopaedics) from Grantham but they want to close our consultant–led Accident and Emergency Department. That means, without any doubt, that some people in the future will die who in present circumstances would not. A minor injuries unit run by nurses, with a G.P. standing by, does not even begin to replace an A. and E. Department capable of dealing with life-threatening emergencies. It is hard to think of a more devastating or callous betrayal.

I shall never accept these proposals and I do not believe the people of Grantham will do so either. We must do everything in our power to resist them. I shall certainly be raising Grantham Hospital in Parliament and with Ministers in private. And I hope we can arrange a massive demonstration in Grantham and I have already made this suggestion to the Editor of the Grantham Journal. None of us, I think, will ever forgive ourselves if we leave anything undone that could be done to save our hospital.”