THE battle to save Hemel Hempstead Hospital's maternity services culminated in the hand-over of a 52,000-signature petition to Number 10 Downing Street on Tuesday, December 18.

St Albans MP Kerry Pollard and Harpenden MP Peter Lilley joined Dacorum MP Tony McWalter to present the combined petition that they hope will force ministers to reconsider the transfer of maternity services from Hemel Hempstead Hospital to Watford General Hospital.

Mr Pollard said: "Although the decision to move the maternity unit was not made by the Government, the petition to the Prime Minister will serve to draw attention to the strength of feeling in St Albans, Harpenden and Hemel Hempstead."

The petition follows a parliamentary debate last Wednesday that saw Harpenden MP Peter Lilley seek assurances from the parliamentary under-secretary for health Hazel Blears that the transfer would be temporary.

Quoting the Government's own figures for maternity spending, which were announced in October, he questioned whether the absence of an allocation of funds for Hemel Hempstead Hospital meant that it was likely to be downgraded.

He said: "If the Government planned to improve that hospital and ensure that we could return maternity services there, surely the hospital would receive a large chunk of the spending.

"We fear that the change will be permanent, not temporary. It will lead to the loss of all major acute and accident and emergency services at Hemel Hempstead, and their transfer to Watford General Hospital."

Mr Lilley also questioned the merits of the imminent review of maternity services set up by Lord Hunt. He said: "We have little faith in the proposed review, which purports to be independent although it was set up by a minister.

"The review is anonymous and started work too late. It looks more like a whitewash than an objective inquiry."

However, Ms Blears refuted claims that Hemel Hempstead Hospital had been excluded from receiving government funding, insisting that an allocation of £240,000 had been deferred until 2002 because "a period of change is underway."

Stressing that the situation remains "fluid" she defended the costs of the proposed transfer of the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU), saying: "I assure local people that the vast majority of those improvements at Watford would have been carried out in any event. We are not in the business of spending money unnecessarily."

December 19, 2001 12:30