Comment: Medical care must be priority

Mar 26 2008 Liverpool Daily Post

THE plan to replace the Royal Liverpool Hospital has been a protracted and, at times, controversial affair. And now, just when all seems settled, another dissenting voice has made itself heard.

And this time, it is the voice of someone who has earned the right to criticise such a plan – a veteran consultant physician who has worked at the Royal for years and knows its failings and advantages better than most.

Dr Emlyn Williams thinks the £400m new-build, which received planning permission last week, is a waste of money that could be better spent on services for patients.

He wants the existing hospital to be redeveloped rather than replaced, and says that, at just 28 years old, the cur- rent incarnation of the Royal Liverpool Hospital is simply too young to write off.

Dr Williams cites a number of points to back up his case. But none of these arguments hold much water, according to health chiefs from the Trust.

They say refurbishment would be more expensive than replacement, and that the decision to build a new hospital was only reached after years of careful consultation with staff.

It is right that Dr Williams’s views are aired. What is less certain is how they will be greeted by those who may one day find themselves in need of the hospital’s services.

For, while staff at the Royal Liverpool would, no doubt, strive to provide excel- lence of care regardless of the age and location of their hospital, where would patients prefer to be treated – at a new state-of-the-art facility or in a revamped version of the existing hospital?

The answer is fairly obvious.

The Royal Liverpool Hospital is, at present, an ugly, out-dated building on an inadequate site.

Refurbishment would not address these issues. But it would mean disruption and chaotic surroundings – hardly an atmosphere to aid patient recovery. And it would cost many more millions of pounds – money better spent on medical care.