MP JEREMY Hunt has told the new Surrey PCT to stop making "macho" threats to local hospitals and concentrate on healthcare after the importance of keeping The Royal Surrey County Hospital open was revealed. Speaking at Monday's primary care trust meeting, Mr Hunt told the board to start treating the proposed closure with more humility after performance figures showed the only blot on the hospital's copybook was getting serious accident victims to Guildford within eight minutes. The South West Surrey MP added that plans to close the accident and emergency department at the hospital - and instead send people to Chertsey or Frimley - could only make things worse. Currently only 72.39 per cent of category A - serious emergency - calls are reaching the hospital within eight minutes. The target set by The Healthcare Commission is 75 per cent. The Royal Surrey, formerly under the control of the now-defunct Guildford and Waverley PCT, is the only hospital not reaching the target. However, it ranked among the best in the county for its cancer care. Mr Hunt told the board: "It sounds to residents of Waverley like we [The Royal Surrey] are the problem child of the PCT, but when you look at the targets it comes out as one of the best. "The only thing it falls behind on is category A calls, so people will be asking why the one big change planned for the hospital will make that situation far worse. "We have had lots of macho talk about what happens if local areas don't do what they are told, but we have heard nothing about making sure clinical standards are reached and maintained. "I will be the one getting letters from my constituents, and I will have to respond, so I would like to see more humility coming from the board. "We have a huge deficit, and half of that is Waverley's, and I am desperately worried that my constituents are going to bear the brunt of your determination to balance the books." His comments came soon after the board had revealed how the former Guildford and Waverley PCT catchment area had been ranked as "weak" by The Healthcare Commission when it came to finances. The commission added that it "failed to demonstrate it had adequate arrangements for managing finances." There are now measures in place to claw back some of the projected deficit of around £13 million that Surrey PCT is set to inherit from the former Guildford and Waverley area PCT. The board stressed that no decision had been made on the future of The Royal Surrey, adding that the closure of the A and E would be decided as part of the "Fit for the Future" consultation. However, it was revealed that the consultation, which was planned for this month, will now be put off until the new year so the PCT can ensure the process is thorough. Although the move was welcomed by all, it means residents face a longer wait to decide the future of the hospital. After the meeting, Mr Hunt reiterated his fears. He said: "It is absolutely crazy that the one area that they are weak on is the one that will be severely devastated by change. "I had a sense that this is a board totally driven by the financial imperative to remove their deficit, and regrettably I came away with little sense of a concern about making sure patients don't suffer as a result." Jill King, programme director at Surrey PCT, commented: "As we move towards public consultation, it is important to stress that no decisions on any proposals have yet been made. "We are still discussing our ideas with our stakeholders, staff and members of the public and our plans are developing with their input. "We welcome comments and feedback from all members of the local community and are taking all these issues into consideration as we work through our ideas for future healthcare in Surrey. "Healthcare is changing, and we need to respond to this change, and we believe there are real opportunities - particularly in response to the government's White Paper, "Our Health, Our Care, Our Say" - to develop much more care within the community, which will bring patients real benefits. "We appreciate and understand that people are concerned about the possibility of reducing traditional hospital services, but what we are actually doing is looking to provide a whole range of alternative services, the majority of which will be more widely available at local level and will be able to offer patients better and more appropriate care. "For example, we are looking to develop a range of urgent care centres and anticipate that 90 per cent of Surrey residents would be within a 25-minute drive from either one of these centres or an A&E department. "By concentrating the most specialist acute services within specialist centres, we would be able to offer patients better care, with more highly trained and experienced staff, which will ultimately bring better outcomes for our patients. "This is not just about acute and emergency services, it is about redesigning the way we deliver healthcare in Surrey at all levels." l A DECISION on the future of Milford Hospital has also been postponed, the PCT revealed during public question time. Mr Hunt had asked whether the plan to move beds to Farnham permanently - and close the Milford site - were still going ahead now a new PCT was in charge, and given the possible closures at the Royal Surrey. He was told that any decision over Milford would wait until the future of The Royal Surrey had been confirmed.
