MPs hopeful on Whiston burns unit decision (From This Is Cheshire)

MPs hopeful on Whiston burns unit decision

ST HELENS Labour MPs are hopeful a decision will be made soon to reject proposals to downgrade specialist burns care at Whiston and Alder Hey hospitals.

Campaigners have amassed thousands of names on a petition to save Whiston's Burns Unit.

They have taken confidence from their belief that Health Secretary Andy Burnham does not accept a regional review of burns care was carried out correctly.

A delegation of Labour MPs from the region held talks with Burnham at the House of Commons last week.

Discussions centred on the future of both hospitals’ burns units, which are under threat from the review which suggested creating regional “super centres” in Manchester and Wakefield.

Campaigners, Star readers and local politicians have expressed alarm at the proposals, which could see severely burned patients making lengthy trips to hospitals.

Now though it is understood Burnham, who as an ex-pupil at St Aelreds Catholic Technology College in Newton has local ties, has reassured his regional Labour colleagues.

Meanwhile, St Helens North MP Watts says he has made it clear in one-to-one talks with the health secretary that the “proposals would destroy the world class reputation and expertise which had been built up over many years at both Whiston and Alder Hey”.

MPs say Burnham, who they described as “sympathetic to the concerns”, believed that the review’s proposals did not meet requirements set by Department of Health for changes of such a magnitude.

The delegation made it clear that they wanted the process to be ended because of “uncertainty” that has gone on too long.

They say Burnham agreed with them that “clinicians need to know what the future hold for the service”.

Whiston’s fate rests in the hands of the strategic health authority (NHS North West) – which takes key health service decisions in the region.

Watts and St Helens South MP, Shaun Woodward, have written to the organisation’s chief executive, Mike Farrar, stating “there is no business or clinical case for the super centres” to be created. They have demanded a swift response.

Watts added: “I believe that both the strategic health authority and the secretary of state for health both fully understand the damage that would be done to burns services in Merseyside if the proposals were to go forward.”