DESPITE a last-ditch attempt to stem the tide of destruction, the bulldozers rolled in last week to flatten the £4m suite of orthopaedic orperating theatres on AltonÕs Lord Mayor Treloar Hospital site.

It was the final cut for local campaigners who describe the act as nothing more than Ògovernment-sponsored vandalismÓ.

Speaking for the first time since losing the hard-fought battle to save the hospital, Treloar Hospital Project leader Luath Grant Ferguson has been angered beyond belief by the destruction of a Òperfectly serviceable hospitalÓ at a time when orthopaedic provision across Hampshire is in chaos and patients are being sent abroad for routine joint replacements.

ÒWhatever the arguments against stand-alone specialist hospitals, Lord Mayor Treloar Hospital, and those theatres in particular, should not have been knocked down before something else had been put in place to fill the yawning gap created by its closure in the mid-90s,Ó he said.

Not one to say Òwe told you soÓ, Mr Grant Ferguson is nonetheless scathing in his criticsm. ÒDuring the so-called public consultation on the closure of an orthpaedic hospital which attracted nurses and clinicians for specialist training from all over the world, we were told that we would get a cheaper, faster and more efficient service by moving elective operations to Basingstoke.

ÒWaiting lists would fall, they said, and specialist staff recruitment would not be affected. But, as high-quality studies paid for by the local community showed, these claims were at best unvalidated, and at worst, bogus.

ÒThe rise in orthpaedic demand was grossly under-estimated, especially as Basingstoke, unlike TreloarÕs, found it impossible to replace or retain the crack theatre teams who had worked so fast and so brilliantly at Alton.

ÒWorse, senior health managers kept up their campaign of misinformation regarding capacity.

ÒNow Portsmouth and Southampton are struggling with waiting lists which extend into years, not months. North Hampshire Hospitals NHS Trust at Basingstoke continues to claim it can meet targets, even when many of its orthopaedic beds are taken up by general medical cases, and trauma cases continue to cause the cancellation of elective orthopaedic cases.Ó

Local people backed the orthopaedic surgeons who opposed the closure rather than the managers and a county-wide petition of 25,000 signatures supported their case.

According to Mr Grant Ferguson: ÒThe voices of medical practices and elected councils throughout the former health authority backed the local communityÕs position that you do not touch something which is working well without having a fully funded replacement up and running.

ÒWe could have had houses and a hospital,Ó points out the Alton man. ÒBut the health managers insisted they knew best, when they clearly did not. They arrogantly set aside public opinion, and the steep increase in orthopaedic waiting lists began.Ó

Mr Grant Ferguson and his team are devastated by the loss and angry that, despite a last-ditch attempt to make the government see sense, it failed to recognise the role Lord Mayor Treloar Hospital could have played in helping to avert or at least alleviate the current crisis.

ÒSadly, as things stand in Hampshire, it will be a matter of years before what has been lost is made good,Ó said Mr Grant Ferguson. ÒThis is not just a sad day for Alton, but for patients across the region.Ó