After squandering £3m on securing the derelict Putney Hospital site, which has laid dormant for a decade, NHS Wandsworth has finally admitted it is scrapping redevelopment scheme.
Plans for three GP surgeries, a pharmacy, district nurses, chiropodists and a cafe were mothballed at a board meeting last week, and plans in other parts of the borough also look to be indefinitely delayed as NHS budgets are frozen.
As well as £3m already wasted, the site is now likely to be sold to developers.
Health rules also mean money from any sale would go to the Government, not back into healthcare in the borough.
NHS Wandsworth blamed the farce on the recession.
Chief executive, Ann Radmore, said: “The position we are in today, is very different from where we were in 2007.
"While this change of direction is frustrating, we now know that the NHS will not escape the effects of the financial downturn, therefore it is essential that those tasked with managing healthcare locally have the foresight and flexibility to make the tough and controversial decisions which will result in appropriate and affordable solutions, while allowing us to continue providing services equitably across the borough.”
NHS Wandsworth now wants three Putney GP practices - Balmuir Gardens, Disraeli Road and Putney Medical Centre - to be located at a central Putney site, with community services remaining at the Eileen Lecky Clinic.
Wandsworth Council leader, Councillor Edward Lister, led the condemnation.
He said: “This whole sorry saga has dragged on for more than a decade and seen around £3 million of taxpayers' money squandered.
"Eleven years down the line we are back at square one, with an empty and derelict hospital building lying vacant and no plans at all to bring it back into health use.”
Putney MP Justine Greening was equally scathing.
She said: “It is unbelievable that after a decade NHS Wandsworth and NHS London couldn’t agree on a decision.
"It is not like the proposals were a surprise and questions have to be asked why NHS London left it [the decision not to go ahead] until the eleventh hour.”
in June, we reported that since the hospital closed in 1998 about £3m had been spent on security, maintaining the building and engaging consultants and architects to draw up redevelopment plans.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here