In the House of Commons Chamber on Thursday, 25 May 2023, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Steve Barclay MP, made an announcement on the New Hospital Programme. On multiple occasions he confirmed the commitment for the floor-by-floor refurbishment of Charing Cross Hospital. Which is great news for local residents and Charing Cross Hospital patients – right?
However, despite this undeniable reassurance from the Secretary of State for Health, disgraceful rumours have been spreading that the refurbishment of out local hospitals has been scrapped. Who is behind this you might ask? None other than the local Labour-run Hammersmith & Fulham Council who put out a Weekly Briefing on 26 May titled: ‘’Charing Cross Hospital refurbishment scrapped’’.
I would like to categorically state - this is absolutely not true!
Not only is this incorrect, but it is also incredibly misleading. Residents across Fulham & Chelsea use and depend on Charing Cross Hospital and the excellent staff and healthcare that they provide. Spreading this misinformation only leads to confusion and frightens people. You might have seen that Councillor Amanda Lloyd-Harris has written to the Chief Executive of the Council to ask how this was permitted and issue a correction to recipients of the Weekly Briefing.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that Labour have been misleading on Charing Cross Hospital. You may remember that in 2017 it reached such a height that the NHS wrote to the Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council disputing the Council’s ‘incorrect and misleading claims’ about the future of our fantastic Charing Cross Hospital.
The letter was from Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust Chief Executive Dr Tracey Batten and North West London Collaboration of Clinical Commissioning Groups Chief Officer Clare Parker, in which they wrote about a leaflet which was circulated with council tax updates to residents:
‘’This material made a number of incorrect and misleading claims about the future of Charing Cross Hospital which is likely to cause significant, unnecessary distress to patients and staff.
As you will be fully aware, there have never been any plans to close Charing Cross Hospital.’’
The letter also raised concerns about the Council choosing to spend public money fighting ‘closure plans’ that do not exist. In addition, the NHS felt it was necessary to raise a formal complaint about it.
At the moment, Labour are yet again making misleading claims about Charing Cross Hospital.
I and my family have used Charing Cross Hospital for more than 30 years, and I know first-hand how important this service is. I am delighted to have helped secure funding so our hospital can have a floor-by-floor refurbishment and residents can have access to the health care they need. It is time for the Labour-run Council to accept this and end the fictional narrative.
