BOSSES at Queen Mary’s Hospital in Sidcup have agreed to the closure of their A&E department as soon as possible.

As consultation on the proposals drawn up in A Picture of Health comes to an end this weekend, the hospital trust's board has said it understands the case for closing Bexley’s A&E unit.

But it has also said better healthcare across outer south east London would only be achieved if A&E services were also removed from Lewisham hospital.

The options include keeping University Hospital Lewisham (UHL) running as normal, providing medical emergency care only or closing its A&E in the same way as Queen Mary’s Sidcup (QMS).

Under all options, the Princess Royal University Hospital (PRUH), Orpington, and Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), Woolwich, will become bigger A&E centres to concentrate life-saving expertise at the two sites.

The board said: “If three hospitals are to continue unchanged this will not produce the concentration of expertise which forms the clinical basis for A Picture of Health. There will be a continued dilution of expertise across outer south east London which makes the best practice medical model impossible to implement. It is also unworkable for an effective surgical workforce in terms of maintaining an adequate surgical rota.”

Under the board’s preferred option, both QMS and UHL would become so-called borough hospitals, dealing with minor injuries and planned surgery.

Bexley’s maternity unit would also be lost, with mothers having the choice of travelling to the PRUH or QEH or having a home birth.

The board said: “The Queen Mary’s Sidcup NHS Trust board discussed a range of variants proposed by staff including the variant of a stand-alone midwifery-led birthing unit. Following debate and clinical advice, the board does not wish to recommend any variants to the options proposed.”

It said: “There is general agreement that the options presented are the right ones. However the Queen Mary’s Sidcup NHS Trust board agrees with staff that the options are poorly explained in the consultation document and create confusion.

“There is an overwhelming belief that any delay in implementation of A Picture of Health would have the most serious consequences for QMS, particularly around the provision of safe care for our patients. We would expect to see implementation start within months rather than years to ensure safe services are maintained.”