The Gordon Hospital in Bloomburg Street

HEALTH chiefs are facing questions over an NHS hospital that was shut three-and-a-half years ago for safety concerns during Covid-19 and then never reopened.

The Gordon Hospital in Pimlico, which had 51 inpatient beds, was closed “temporarily” at the start of the pandemic in March 2020 due to safety regulations. Hospital staff were sent to work in A&Es around the capital during the crisis.

The closure left Westminster without a single bed available for mental health patients.

It has meant residents in acute distress are being treated long distances away – one as far away as Bolton – or face “waiting on average 22 hours to get a bed in hospital A&E”, councillors were told on Wednesday night.

Labour’s Nafsika Butler-Thalassis said: “If we lose these inpatient beds we will never get them back. Westminster is the borough with the highest health inequalities, the largest homeless population in the country, very significant mental health needs, not only in our own population but also in the huge number of visitors we have every day. How can a borough like this have no mental health beds?”

She added: “It is three-and-a-half years since the closure. The NHS have said that if we want it to reopen, other community mental health services will have to close because there is not enough money. The NHS suggests a relocation of a crisis assessment ­centre there, but that is an existing service, it’s not the same as 51 beds.”

The councillor was presenting a motion to the full city council in the Old Marylebone Town Hall on Wednesday night. Members heard that while some patients are sent to St Charles Hospital in Kensington, many are placed “far away from Westminster where they do not have a support network”.

London mayor Sadiq Khan is undertaking an independent review to assess if the NHS plans pass statutory tests.

Conservative councillor Lorraine Dean said: “There is always going to be a need for acute mental health beds. St Charles only has 67 beds. It often means Westminster residents are being treated outside the borough. This makes it difficult for families to keep in regular contact.”

But she added: “We need to listen to the NHS which says the Gordon site is unsuitable. We need provision in a modern and positive environment.”

The motion had said that the temporary closure had “put immense pressure on other parts of the system” and that there was “no indication the need for acute mental health beds is reducing”, adding: “We call on the NHS to reopen acute mental health beds in south Westminster to ensure that the acute mental health needs of our residents are met. We very much value community mental health services but we don’t believe that community mental health services should be funded at the expense of acute hospital beds.”

It was approved following a vote from councillors meaning the city council will officially oppose the closure in a consultation.

The Extra reported on the temporary closure of the building in March 2020 due to “serious concerns” about the potential spread of Covid-19 and so staff could cover for isolating colleagues elsewhere.

The NHS had argued that the hospital building had deteriorated and was no longer fit for purpose. It would require a £25million investment to get it back into working order.

A statement from Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust said: “In March 2020 51 beds at the Gordon Hospital (provided by CNWL) were temporarily closed to ensure safe staffing levels and rigorous Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) measures for patients and staff during the pandemic. Following the temporary closure of the acute in-patient wards, CNWL is working with North West London Integrated Care Board and with the boroughs affected by the changes, to deliver a public consultation to determine the future of inpatient wards at the site.”