Labour slams Tories over hospital cuts across London

Labour today launched a new campaign to save the NHS in London as hospitals faced closures and job cuts.

Shadow health secretary John Healey and mayoral candidate Ken Livingstone vowed to protect services against the Tories' "damaging policies".

It came as Health Secretary Andrew Lansley was warned patients would suffer if the plans to shut down the A&E and maternity departments at Romford's King George Hospital go ahead.

Havering council's cabinet has appealed to Mr Lansley to halt the closures, saying they will put more pressure on the overstretched Queen's Hospital in Ilford. Both hospitals serve one million people.

Mr Healey said: "The Tories' reckless top-down re-organisation threatens the NHS in London and across the country."

Mr Livingstone said: "Wherever I go in London I hear real concern about the future of health services. I will be supporting local campaigns across the capital."

But Mr Lansley hit back at the claims saying the Government "inherited Labour's plans to close A&Es and maternity units". He added: "We stopped their centrally dictated closures and demanded that all plans meet four tests on: safety, public engagement, GP-led commissioning support and patient choice. As a result, we are giving local communities the power to determine the shape of services.

"We are investing an extra £10.7 billion in our NHS - funding that Labour didn't support - and we're modernising the service to deliver better care for patients".