A HEALTH chief at the centre of a hospital closure row told a senior councillor four months ago there were no plans to shut it down.
David Cain, chief executive of the Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust, sent a letter of reassurance to Coun John Lamb in July after rumours began to spread about proposals to close Altrincham General.
The debt-ridden trust announced yesterday it was proposing to close the hospital as part of a raft of measures to save millions of pounds.
The proposals follow a damning public interest report by the District Auditor. In the letter, Mr Cain told Mr Lamb: "I write to confirm that the board of the Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust have no plans to close the wards at Altrincham General."
He added: "I understand that my Chair has responded to a letter from Coun Susan Fildes, as leader of Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council in an email of July 15, to advise that our board has no plans to close Altrincham General Hospital or individual wards."
Savage cuts
Altrincham councillor Stephen Ogden said local people would be shocked when they heard of Mr Cain's letter. He said: "This letter and the subsequent savage cuts are an incredible act of betrayal and a grave insult to local residents.
"In mid-July we received written promises that there were no plans to close Altrincham General Hospital, yet four months later the board recommends closure of the facility.
"It's a sick joke that Trafford Healthcare is called a trust, because how can we trust these people again?"
A trust spokesman said: "The letter dated July 18 was correct in its statement that the trust had no plans to close the wards at Altrincham General Hospital.
"However, since then the trust board have needed to respond to the public interest report, which was presented to the board yesterday.
"In response to this report, which calls for plans to return the trust to financial balance, the trust has put forward proposals to achieve this.
"These new proposals do include suggested changes to services in Altrincham."
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Firstly, how apt that the Chair of Trafford Healthcare NHS Trust is called Cain - let's not forget what Cain did to Abel.
Secondly, instead of closing much needed hospitals and wards, here's a very sensible suggestion.
At Trafford General, there is the Moorside Unit. This unit was initially set up to help people with mental illnesses - however, nowadays, it seems to be filled with drug addicts and the people who are genuinely mentally ill can't get into the place. Stop this immediately Mr Cain. No-one forces you to take drugs - you do it of your own volition.
Secondly, the number of drunks that are constantly at the A&E department at TGH is quite staggering. How about this to raise some money. Like the above paragraph regarding drug addicts, no-one actually forces you to drink alcohol - you do it of your own volition.
Why don't TGH install a large Portacabin outside in the car park and throw some mattresses inside it. Then when the drunks come in - not ill just paraletic - then they can be put in the Portacabin and, when they've been sobered up - presented with a bill for, say, B#250 (that way they'll have less money to spend on alcohol whilst they're paying the bill off).
The NHS was set up to care for the sick, not those who inflict damage on themselves and expect everyone else to pay for it.
Come on, let's get tough and start charging for some of these services when the cause is self-inflicted.
Also, it's not fair that the staff have to deal with these creatures. Their work is hard enough when somebody is genuinely ill.