There has been various talk in the media of a possible legal challenge to Hunt's decision. Does anyone know any more about this? I would have thought that it could and should be judicially reviewed, particularly given the precedent that it sets. On the face of it the administrator and Hunt's subsequent decision seem to go beyond their legal powers. Isn't the administrator appointed to sort out trusts in deficit, rather than having powers to recommend other trusts to shut down services?
If I'm wrong then I'm afraid this is a sad day for our (lack of) democratic constitution because
1) it is completely counter to what the government set out in their election manifesto and countless announcements since, that they will use allow the market to decide ie. well run institutions (ie. Lewisham) will thrive while poorly run ones (Bromley) will be left to fail
2) it is completely counter to seemingly all the views of those who replied to the consultation, all those that protested, and all those that wrote to J Hunt - all those views have been ignored
3) this is clearly party politics - Lewisham is a Labour borough, Bromley isn't
4) this has nothing to do with health outcomes - Lewisham isn't a PFI hospital, so 2/3rds of the buildings will be sold off to bail out the shiny new PFI hospitals that have got themselves into financial trouble. So effectively the private sector contractors are being bailed out by cutting our health services.

First post on this forum - I had hoped to comment on something more positive.......!