Tories' hospital closures row rumbles on
Updated on 22 August 2007
There is another twist in the Tories' row over NHS closures after it emerged an email apologising to one hospital was sent in error.
Party leader David Cameron has been trying to focus attention on the "anarchy in the UK" caused by yob culture but the hospital closures issue has come back to haunt him.
Mr Cameron has been criticised over his claim that at least 29 district general hospitals face "losing" A&E or maternity units, with several health chiefs saying the Tory leader has got his facts wrong.
Tom Taylor, chief executive of the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, said there was "no threat" to its Wrekin Maternity Unit at the Princess Royal Hospital, despite it being included on the list.
He said: "We reviewed our maternity services as part of last year's Strategic Service Plan. At that time we agreed that we should continue with the current model of care. That commitment has not changed."
However, it has now emerged that an email sent from Mr Cameron's office to the Telford hospital apologising for its inclusion in the list was sent in error by a junior researcher and that the hospital and its services are still under threat.
Despite insisting that even more could be added to the list, Mr Cameron's party has already been forced to admit a mix-up over another hospital while a Tory MP went as far as issuing a public apology over an additional "mistake".
Shadow justice minister and North West Norfolk MP Henry Bellingham said sorry about the inclusion in the list of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn and apologised to its staff.
A spokesman for the hospital insisted there is no threat and it had accepted from the Tories "an unreserved apology for an administrative error".
The party has also admitted there was an error when Altrincham Hospital was put on the list instead of Trafford - both of which come under the same NHS trust.
Meanwhile, Glen Burley, chief executive of South Warwickshire General Hospitals NHS Trust, said the A&E and maternity departments at Warwick Hospital are not under threat, adding that such stories are destabilising for staff and patients.
Elsewhere, a statement from the George Eliot Hospital in Nuneaton said a review had also concluded that there should be no changes to its A&E or maternity arrangements.
And a spokeswoman for Horton General Hospital in Oxfordshire said the Tories had been wrong to say the A&E department was under threat of closure and it was seeking a correction from the party.
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