UPDATE: Decision due at 1pm on Redbridge hospital’s future

A statement on the future of the A&E and labour ward at King George Hospital is due at around 1pm today.

Secretary of state for health Andrew Lansley has been reviewing the proposals to close both services at the hospital in Barley Lane, Goodmayes, since late July.

The independent reconfiguration panel, a group of people with varying expertise in healthcare, produced a report for Mr Lansley on the planned changes to help him make a final ruling.

The services closures, first presented by Health for North East London in their current guise in late 2009, has sparked a large and vocal campaign which has included a petition with more than 30,000 names being presented in Parliament.

People have also walked the streets of Redbridge to express their opposition to the planned ward closures.

The Recorder will bring you the content of the statement as soon as it is released, so keep checking our website for updates on this as well as the CQC’s “devastating” report into care provided by Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust.