Is St Helier hospital safe now?

The demise of the now discredited and disbanded Better Service Better Value (BSBV) was cheered by all of us who are campaigning to protect NHS services for local people.

So, is St Helier safe now?

The simple answer is no.

I have serious concerns about its successor: the South West London Collaborative Commissioning (SWLCC) . This is made up of the six south west London CCGs (Clinical Commissioning Groups), this time with a remit to look more holistically at health provision locally, so it will include community services, out of hours care and care for mental health service users.

It sounds good, doesn’t it? Until you find out that this new body is made up of the same people, meets in the same building, has the same twitter feed and the same chair (Dr Howard Freeman).

All meetings are held behind closed doors - there is no openness and transparency.

Strangely, there are no elected councillors on it, which means that the chairs of the Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWB)of the six councils have been excluded. And yet it is the HWBs that are core to delivering integrated care. Why have they not been included in the discussions? This is a question that Dr Freeman must answer.

We need the SWLCC to work together with the HWBs of all six boroughs if sensible recommendations are to be brought forward. The recent very public spat between the heads of those two organisations will not help local people receive better local health services.

Councillor Alambritis needs to stop trying to score cheap political points, making threats that he knows he cannot make good on; and Dr Freeman needs to accept that local people will not accept loss of services at St Helier.

We have a unique opportunity to support St Helier, as it seeks to provide services at the Nelson Local Care Centre, due to open in April 2015. Both Merton CCG and Merton’s HWB can play their part in this.

We need collaborative working to produce good integrative outcomes.

Can commonsense please prevail?

Shas Sheehan; Parliamentary spokesperson, Wimbledon Liberal Democrats

What do you think? Send your letter to: letters@wimbledonguardian.co.uk.