Hunt 'Had No Power To Make Hospital Cuts'

Health secretary Jeremy Hunt did not have the power to implement cuts at a London hospital, the Court of Appeal has ruled.

The three judges upheld a ruling made by a High Court judge in July that Mr Hunt's move to downgrade A&E and maternity services at Lewisham Hospital was "unlawful".

It found that Mr Hunt had breached provisions of the National Health Services Act 2006 when he announced to Parliament in January that casualty and maternity units at the hospital in southeast London would be downgraded.

The ruling is a victory for the London Borough of Lewisham and the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign , a community-based campaign group made up of and supported by patients, community groups, GPs, hospital doctors, nurses and other health professionals.

Rosa Curling from law firm Leigh Day, who represented the campaign group, said: "We are absolutely delighted with the Court of Appeal's decision today.

"It confirms what the Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign has been arguing from the start - that the Secretary of State did not have the legal power to close and downgrade services at Lewisham Hospital.

"This expensive waste of time for the Government should serve as a wake up call that they cannot ride roughshod over the needs of the people."

The upholding of the ruling is a significant blow for Mr Hunt because the case involved the first legal testing of a new Government procedure for dealing with failing NHS organisations.

Under the new regime, Mr Hunt had appointed a trust special administrator (TSA) to the South London Healthcare Trust, which went into administration after it started losing more than £1m a week.

This administrator recommended the cuts at Lewisham Hospital, which Mr Hunt then announced to Parliament would be implemented.

Following Tuesday's ruling, Mr Hunt said: "I completely understand why the residents of Lewisham did not want any change in their A&E services, but my job as Health Secretary is to protect patients across south London - and doctors said these proposals would save lives.

"We are now looking at the law to make sure that, at a time of great challenge, the NHS is able to change and innovate when local doctors believe it is in the interests of patients."

When he announced the cuts, the health secretary told MPs the changes would improve patient care in south London, saving up to 100 lives a year.

The Court of Appeal finding against the government's appeal means that Lewisham Hospital is now safe from the cuts.

Vicky Penner, a mother of three young children who has been involved in the campaign from the outset, said: "We are absolutely over the moon. We are thrilled that justice has prevailed for a second time.

"I was shocked that the Government was arrogant and foolish enough to carry on and try and bully through the closure of our excellent, much-needed Lewisham Hospital.

"The judgment made in July was very clear indeed - that they acted unlawfully - so this is a disgraceful waste of taxpayers' money by Jeremy Hunt."