Nothing actually new about this. St Tomas's used to be the "police" hospital. There is clearly some sort of standing arrangement which is wheeled out whenever the cops wish. It is only the acute emergency of Alfie's condition which has focused attention on the situation.

TIP If you're not in the sort of critical condition Alfie was but, need hospital treatment (which you always do if the cops have injured you, if only to get it medically recorded) then DON'T go to the nearest A&E In Central London that often means UCH. The cops are liable to raid there and nick injured people waiting. Sometimes they are repulsed by principled medics determined that their hospital should be a place of safety, sometimes not. Go to a hospital more distant from the action if you can.

The trust involved confirmed that pre-existing agreement was in place that CW would be reserved for police. How that fits with they Hippocratic oath bewilders me.

So we pay our taxes to fund the NHS then find out we are considered second class citizens if trying to obtain emergency treatment if the private army has already put their towels on the beds.

The Met, however, said in a statement, that whiel agreements are reached in advance between the police, LAS and the hospitals the ultimate decision of where to take the patient is LAS's; though a hospital stand-off would suggest the police don't want to respect this already deplorable arrangement.