A HEALTH group covering north London has criticised the Government and Enfield Council for their handling of plans to downgrade Chase Farm Hospital.

On Friday, the joint scrutiny board for the north central London sector, made up of councillors from five boroughs, said it wanted a say in what happens with the hospital as it affected people across the area.

Earlier this month, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley gave a delegation of MPs and councillors from the borough a month to come up with an alternative plan for Chase Farm after the green light was given to remove accident and emergency services.

Earlier this week, the North Middlesex Hospital warned it could face severe financial problems if the north Enfield hospital is not downgraded, as had been planned.

But, at the scrutiny meeting at Hendon Town Hall, Haringey Councillor Gideon Bull (Lab) slammed the way the process was being handled, claiming decisions were being made for political, not clinical reasons.

He said: “The future of Chase Farm Hospital does not just affect the people of Enfield. I’m quite perturbed our colleagues in Enfield don’t seem to be able to see south of Enfield Town.

“It has an impact on Barnet Hospital and North Middlesex. We should take this subject and take it away from the local authority, that might take some of the political heat out of it.

“It worries me greatly. North Middlesex is saying it can’t pay its PFI agreement next year if it doesn’t happen.”

The meeting heard the cost of maintaining and repairing buildings at the hospital could now be more than £130 million, while staffing problems were also a factor in providing enough on-call specialists.

Cllr Bull also launched an attack on fellow Labour politicians MPs David Lamy and Andy Love, saying: “I’m really quite annoyed with the way the MPs for Tottenham and Edmonton has been so slow getting out of the starting gate on this.

“The impact on the poorest part of Enfield and Tottenham is immeasurable, but they don’t seem to see it as an issue.”

The group unanimously agreed to add it as an action point for the next meeting in May.

No councillors from Enfield were present at the meeting, which had two representatives from each of Barnet, Haringey, Camden and Islington.