Hospital closures will be based on ‘bogus research’

Government plans to “reconfigure” the NHS through specialisation and hospital closures are not based on solid evidence, according to a new report published by the Keep Our NHS Public (KONHSP) campaign.

In January the government’s favourite think-tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), claimed that centralising health services in fewer hospitals would have an overall clinical benefit. The government seized on this, and accident and emergency, paediatric and maternity departments in at least 60 areas are expected to be downgraded as a result.

But The case for hospital reconfiguration – not proven, comissioned by KONHSP from academics David Byrne and Sally Ruane, has found no conclusive evidence that centralisation will have an overall benefit – meaning the IPPR’s conclusions cannot be substantiated.

“Clearly the government is worried by the level of opposition to hospital closures,” said Ruane at the report’s launch. “It seems to be trying to present the clinical arguments as clear-cut and backed up by evidence. But this is not the case.”

Byrne and Ruane also point out that the IPPR document was part-funded by Prime Plc, a commercial group with a potential vested interest in hospital reconfiguration.

Describing the document as “misleading and selective in its use of evidence”, Ruane added: “Local communities campaigning to defend services will continue to distrust policymakers, not only because reconfigurations smack of cost-cutting but also because they conveniently create business opportunities for powerful interests.”