A new political party has been formed to fight to keep open Queen Mary’s Hospital, Sidcup’s Accident and Emergency Department

PRESS RELEASE from
Independents to save Queen Mary’s Hospital

Embargoed until 9.00am Monday 22nd Oct. 2007

A new local political party has been formed, based in Chislehurst, with the aim of maintaining and subsequently, improving, services for local people, including the local health provision, for those people who come under the outer S E London hospital Trusts’ area. It will be independent of all national political parties and elected representatives will be free of the constraints imposed by the whips of other parties.

The forming of the new party, named Independents to save Queen Mary’s Hospital, has come about as a result of a recent clinical review that is looking at closing up to two local A&E units, with Queen Mary’s Hospital’s likely to be the first to go.

There will be candidates fielded at the next London Borough and General Elections. John Hemming-Clark, a Chislehurst resident, will be standing in the Chislehurst ward and Bromley & Chislehurst constituency respectively. Candidates are being sought for neighbouring constituencies.

Commenting on the forming of the new party, John Hemming-Clark said,

“This new party is dedicated to the improvement of local services in all areas of concern to the community. It will put people before politics, with loyalties to the local population rather than political parties.

We are all entitled to proper medical care within reasonable reach. The well-respected international peer review journal for health professionals and researchers in emergency medicine Emergency Medical Journal reported in September that, “Increased journey distance to hospital appears to be associated with increased risk of mortality.” For those whose nearest hospital is Queen Mary’s and maybe also another local hospital, they will be at increased risk, in an emergency, if the A&E closes.

This scandalous situation cannot be allowed to happen. We are at real danger of losing our local A&Es yet the local politicians are just not prepared to put their heads over the parapet. They do not live near the hospital(s) at risk (the Chief Executive of Queen Mary’s lives in Surrey), but we do and we are not prepared to see the A&Es close.

My two children were both born at Queen Mary’s and without the A&E back-up neither of them would have received the emergency back-up that they required at their births.

At the next General Election every vote for an Independents to save Queen Mary’s Hospital candidate is a vote to save our local hospitals. If elected, your MP would legitimately be able to demand, on your behalf, that a full review be commissioned by the Health Secretary, enabling steps to be taken to prevent any further deterioration in services in any of the hospitals in or near the Bromley & Chislehurst constituency.”