It is clearly therefore essential that Lewisham A&E be closed down as soon as possible. Jeremy Hunt obviously had the right idea about this, as he does about so many other things.

If these performance standards are typical, then Lewisham is raising the NHS performance to a level that cannot be attained by other A&Es. However, by closing down Lewisham, the overall average can be lowered and therefore made more easily achievable by a greater number of less-well managed hospitals.

Don't think of it as "lowering standards", however - think of it as "making mediocrity accessible to all".