![[ image: width=150]](/olmedia/50000/images/_53135_dobson150.jpg)
"I will not countenance the closure of that great hospital which has faithfully served the people of London for 875 years," Mr Dobson said.
Mr Dobson also announced there would be a new hospital in east London, subject to local consultation, at Oldchurch rather than at Harold Wood.
Bart's will continue in its current role while the new Royal London Hospital is being built and the reorganisation of other services is carried out in the East End of London. The hospital will then concentrate on its cancer and cardiac services.
Mr Dobson said the Government had accepted all the recommendations of the Turnberg review of London hospital services, which recommended that St Bartholomew's should remain open.
The Health Secretary endorsed the report's recommendation for a new hospital building for north London, bringing together University College Hospital, the Middlesex Hospital, the Hospital for Tropical Diseases and the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital for Women.
The recommended closure of the accident and emergency unit at Guy's Hospital will also go ahead but the situation will continue to be closely monitored.
There will be a new community hospital on the site of Queen Mary's Roehampton.
The statement follows a moratorium on planned hospital closures since the General Election and an independent review of the capital's health care services by a panel chaired by Sir Leslie Turnberg, a former president of the Royal College of Physicians.
Mr Dobson said "tough decisions" had been faced.
Accepting the panel's recommendations, he said: "Many are in line with our proposals in the new NHS White Paper for a 10-year general improvement programme to make the NHS modern and dependable."
The report noted that in many parts of London, primary care, mental health, intermediate care and community services were not up to standard.
Mr Dobson said an extra £140m would be pumped into these services during the lifetime of the current Parliament.
He announced new arrangements to ensure a "London-wide strategy for health" through a regional NHS office, saying that without this improvements would be hard, if not impossible, to achieve.
He also agreed with the panel's finding that London did not have too many acute hospital beds as presumed by the previous Conservative government.
"Any future changes in bed numbers will be in line with those in the rest of the country," the Health Secretary told MPs.
John Maples, for the Conservatives, criticised the decision to save Bart's, saying it had not been saved for the people of east London.
"Bart's will not be providing any of the local services normally provided by a district general hospital," he said.
Don Magnus of the "Save Bart's" Patient Campaign said the Accident and Emergency Department of the hospital should remain open even after East End hospital services had been reorganised and the fight to achieve this would continue.
Taxpayers willing to boost NHS - survey
(04 Feb 98 | UK)
Department of Health
National Association of Health Authorities and Trusts
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