Our local NHS in Harrow is under threat from an unfair funding settlement and a deficit that could see staff lose their jobs or services cut.

Harrow Clinical Commissioning Group inherited a deficit of £18m from its predecessor Primary Care Trust when the Coalition Government’s reforms were introduced in 2013. Since then, Harrow’s NHS has received the lowest funding per head in London, and the deficit now stands at £20.1m.

London Northwest Healthcare NHS Trust, which manages Northwick Park Hospital, has a projected deficit of £88.3m for the financial year 2015/16, and has been asked to draw up financial plans that would cut this deficit to £61.5m by the end of the financial year 2016/17. This is expected to involve cuts of 140 full-time staff posts.

In January (the latest figures available), 1 in 4 patients at A&E had to wait more than 4 hours. The upcoming closure of the Charlie Chaplin children’s ward at Ealing Hospital means that from 30th June, children will not be admitted to A&E at Ealing, and will be diverted to other hospitals including Northwick Park.