THE future of Whipps Cross University hospital has been thrown into fresh doubt.

The failure of a bid by the trust for a new emergency stroke unit and a looming review of all health care in north east London have raised concerns about services on the Leytonstone site.

Developments will spark memories of the Fit for the Future programme, which threatened the future of the hospital in 2006.

Chingford MP Iain Duncan Smith has warned the hospital could suffer a ‘death by a thousand cuts’ and become nothing more than a ‘cottage hospital’.

Hospital staff are said to be “shocked and extremely concerned” following the latest setback.

Iain Duncan Smith is anxious following a top-level meeting about the failed bid at Whipps Cross last week.

He said: "We're concerned these decisions could make life at Whipps Cross very difficult.

If we're not careful, it could be death by a thousand cuts."

“My view is that all of this puts pressure on Whipps. Under Fit for the Future, it would have been reduced to a rump - they’re now trying to get it through the back door.”

Chairwoman of the Save Whipps Cross campaign Charlotte Monro said acute services at the hospital could be in jeopardy again as a consultation takes place on stroke and trauma care in London.

She said: “When they read the consultation document, staff were shocked and extremely concerned to discover that instead of building on stroke services at Whipps, their future is now up in the air.

“This creates instability and uncertainty - we thought we’d got over that after Fit for the Future.

“What’s really important is that the hospital is able to provide integrated services in the local community for the local community.

“The question is whether there’s another agenda, not based on clinical need but on diverting patients and the money that follows away from Whipps to Queen’s and the Royal London because they are the biggest Private Finance Initiative hospitals.”

Waltham Forest primary care trust chair, Cllr Afzal Akram, believes the future of the hospital is yet to be decided.

“I think the hospital has got a future, but what type of future that will be is what’s being consulted on,” he said.

Walthamstow MP Neil Gerrard said speculation is “unhelpful” at such an early stage, but admitted there are still questions of the number and location of hyper acute stroke units (HASU).

A spokeswoman for Whipps Cross stated that while the hospital is disappointed not to have been awarded HASU status, it is pleased to have been awarded acute stroke care status and is positive about the future.