Showing posts with label Ealing Hospital. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ealing Hospital. Show all posts

Friday 9 September 2016

83 bus route changes & new 483 service start tomorrow

The 83 bus will no longer go to Ealing Hospital
Transport for London will introduce the changes to the 83 bus route and the new 483 bus route tomorrow.

TfL's commentary on issues raised in the consultation, including issues around congestion on East Lane, Wembley for the 483 service can be found HERE,

Wembley Hill Road will be served by a bus route (483) for the first time.Wembley residents wanting to travel to Ealing Hopsital will no longer be able to catch a bus at Wembley Park station but will instead need to walk down to Wembley Hill Road/Wembley Stadium station for the 483. The 83 will now finish at Alperton.

The N83 will continue to run from Golders Green to Ealing Hospital at the same frquency as now.

TfL said:


We received 657 responses to the consultation. 645 responses were from members of the public and 12 were from stakeholders.

57 per cent of respondents supported or partially supported the proposal to shorten route 83 to run between Golders Green and Alperton and not continue on to Ealing Hospital. 22 per cent said they did not support the proposal, 5 per cent were not sure, and 15 per cent had no opinion or did not answer.

77 per cent of respondents supported or partially supported the introduction of new route 483 which would run between Harrow town centre and Ealing Hospital. 11 per cent said they did not support the proposal, 3 per cent were not sure and 9 per cent had no opinion or did not answer.

We have considered all of the responses and have decided to go ahead with the proposals.  We plan to introduce these changes on 10 September 2016.

Monday 11 January 2016

TfL consults on 83 bus route changes - route would stop at Alperton rather than go through to Ealing Hospital

Transport for London is consulting on changes in the 83 bus route which currently runs from Golders Green to Ealing Hospital via Wembley and Alperton. Along with the 182 and 297 it is a link between Wembley Park Station (Jubilee and Metropolitan line stations and Wembley Central Station (Bakerloo, London Overground and Southern Rail).

TfL Announcement

The London bus network is kept under regular review. We have developed proposals to change route 83 to improve reliability and provide more capacity as passenger demand grows in the area.
Route 83 is a 24-hour service that runs daily between Golders Green and Ealing Hospital serving Hendon, Wembley, Alperton, Hanger Lane and Ealing. Buses run approximately every 8 minutes during the day Mondays to Saturdays, every 10 minutes during the day on Sundays and every 12 minutes on all evenings. The overnight service runs every 30 minutes on all nights of the week.

What are we proposing? 

Route 83
We propose to shorten route 83 so that it would run between Golders Green and Alperton station only, and not continue on to Ealing Hospital as it does now. The frequency of this service would remain unchanged.  It would no longer be a 24-hour service; however new route N83 would continue to provide the night service covering all stops served by the current 83.

New route 483
We propose to introduce a new bus route, numbered 483, between Harrow town centre and Ealing Hospital. The proposed new route would start at Harrow bus station, and then run via College Road, Station Road, Kenton Road, Watford Road and East Lane. Buses would go along Wembley Hill Road and then follow the line of the existing route 83 from Empire Way and Wembley Stadium station to Ealing Hospital.  Buses would return over the same roads.

Buses would run every 8 minutes during the day Monday to Saturday, every 10 minutes during the day on Sundays and every 12 minutes all evenings.

The proposed new route would introduce a bus service to a 400 metre section of Wembley Hill Road between Empire Way and Wembley Park Drive for the first time. We are working with the London Borough of Brent to determine whether bus stops could be introduced here.

Our proposals would provide many new direct links between places in North West London not currently possible and give additional capacity between Wembley, Northwick Park and Harrow supplementing route 182. For some though, who currently travel on route 83 between places north of Wembley and south of Alperton, a change of bus may be required to complete their journey. This would affect approximately 1,680 passengers a day, about five per cent of passengers currently using route 83 on weekdays.

Route N83
Route 83 is currently a 24-hour service.  Therefore to ensure all current stops retain a night service we are proposing to introduce a new service, N83, running between Golders Green and Ealing Hospital via the current 83 route. The frequency of this service would remain at a bus every 30 minutes on all nights.  There would be no separate night service on route 483 but route N18 will continue to link Harrow and Wembley at night via Watford Road and Harrow Road.

Drop-in sessions
You can discuss these proposals with staff from Transport for London at the following times and locations:

Thursday 21 January 2016 from 4pm to 7pm at:
Harrow Bus Station
81 College Road
Harrow
HA1 1BA

Monday 25 January 2016 from 3pm to 7pm at:
Brent Civic Centre
Engineers Way
Wembley
HA9 0FJ

Have your say
We would like to know what you think about our proposals for route 83 and the introduction of new route 483. Your comments and suggestions will help inform our final decision making.
Please give us your views by completing the online survey below by Monday 22 February 2016.
Alternatively, you can:

Wednesday 2 December 2015

Mansfied Report report says Shaping a Healthier Future programme threaten fundamental principles of the NHS and provide “no realistic prospect of achieving good quality accessible healthcare for all.”

Hammersmith and Fulham Council have issued this release on the Mansfied Report

One of the country’s biggest hospital shake-ups is deeply flawed, likely to exacerbate a deteriorating situation, a threat to the fundamental principles of a universal NHS and should be halted immediately, according to a landmark report from the Independent Healthcare Commission chaired by Michael Mansfield QC.

NHS North West London’s Shaping a Healthier Future (SaHF) programme has already seen the hugely controversial closures of two A&E departments, at Hammersmith and Central Middlesex hospitals and the closure of Ealing maternity unit. Further downgrading of Ealing hospital is planned, along with the closure and sale of the majority of Charing Cross hospital site.

The Independent Commission also uncovered shocking details of spiralling management and consultancy costs. At the same time, a crisis is developing in emergency services, with GP services clearly failing to meet demand across the region, contributing to a crisis in A&E performance.
Independent Healthcare Commission Chair Michael Mansfield QC said:
“The findings of the Independent Healthcare Commission for North West London are stark - the reforms, both proposed and implemented thus far, are deeply flawed. There is no realistic prospect of achieving good quality accessible healthcare for all, and any further implementation is likely to exacerbate a deteriorating situation.
“Our recommendations are equally stark. It is the view of the Commission that the Shaping a Healthier Future programme should be halted immediately, and that the affected councils should consider a legal challenge if it is taken forward in the current circumstances.”

“At the very core of any decent civil society is the imperative to ensure that the individuals and communities who make up that society have sustainable access to good quality healthcare. The response from North West London NHS, flowing top down from central government, has singularly failed to deliver on this imperative, with all indications pointing to a further deterioration in the future.

“It is crystal clear that the impact of fragmentation through privatisation is slowly eroding what was a National Health Service, a development that ran like a thread through much of the evidence given at our public hearings. In so many ways, the catalogue of failings, missed opportunities and profligacy we have seen in North West London act as a microcosm of a wider malaise across the English NHS. As such, though this report focuses on the NHS in North West London, it should act as a warning call to the top of government.”
Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham Council Cllr Stephen Cowan said:
“People across west London have been horrified to see their treasured NHS deteriorating so quickly – and so unnecessarily. They have protested, sent in petitions and begged local health chiefs to stop this madness, and are furious that local NHS bosses have ignored them for so long. My council colleagues shared this anger, commissioning the Independent Healthcare Commission, and in doing so keeping our pledge to fight for local health services.

“Today’s report from Michael Mansfield QC is a watershed moment. Rigorous, thorough, detailed and rightly independent, the review provides indisputable evidence that these changes to local health services are badly planned, hugely costly and causing life-threatening failures in local healthcare. The only sane decision is to put a halt to them right now.”
The reports key recommendations are:
  • The Shaping a Healthier Future programme must be halted immediately
  • North West London local authorities should consider their options for launching a legal challenge if a decision is taken to press ahead with the programme in the current circumstances.
  • The report’s key findings are:
  • Cutbacks are being targeted on the most deprived communities
  • The public consultation was inadequate and flawed
  • The escalating cost of the programme (£1bn) does not represent value for money and is a waste of precious public resources
  • There is no business plan to show the reconfiguration is affordable or deliverable
  • NHS facilities have been closed without adequate alternative provision being put in place
  • The plans seriously underestimate the increasing size of the population in North West London and fail to address the increasing need for services
In today’s landmark commission report, Michael Mansfield QC also recommends that:
  • Ealing and Charing Cross hospitals must retain full ‘blue light’ A&E services for the foreseeable future
  • The decision to close Ealing maternity unit should be reversed with immediate effect
  • The A&E department at Central Middlesex Hospital should be re-opened
  • The National Audit Office should undertake a review of the value for money of the programme
  • A new public consultation is needed as the proposals have changed significantly
  • Substantial investment should be made in GP and out-of-hospital services, which are clearly overwhelmed and inconsistent.
Read the Independent Healthcare Commission for North West London's final report» (pdf 819KB)

Thursday 27 November 2014

Scrutiny Committe unconvinced by assurances on Northwick Park A&E

Yesterday the BBC reported that ambulance crews would have to call ahead to the control room before taking patients to A&E at Northwick Park Hospital because of the pressures on the hospital. Local GPs are being asked to refer patients to other hospitals. It also reported that in September 179 patients had to wait for more than 30 minutes for an ambulance and 30 patients have to wait for more than an hour.

Yesterday at Scrutiny Committee councillors put the NW London NHS Trust under pressure regarding these issues.  In often emollient replies to tough questioning councillors were assured that there was no danger to patients.

Problems were ascribed to an increase in acuity of patients arriving at the hospital with a sustained rise in medical emergency admissions. In other words more Brent people are becoming sicker.

Although the planned increased bed capacity at Northwick Park would not take place until Autumn 2015 the Trust were taking steps to increase 'in year' capacity at Northwick Park by 32 beds and 20 at Ealing Hospital. Ealing had not shown a marked rise in admissions but there had been an increased length of stay for patients.

Measures to cope with the problem included quicker discharge and less DTOC (delayed termination of care).

In a rather chilling statement an NHS officer said that there was no evidence  that the problems were having an  impact on mortality rates. 'Yet...' was what I said to myself.

Summing up the Committee's view, last night's Chair, Cllr Reg Colwill,  said they were concerned about the timescale of the implementation of improvements to Northwick Park and the danger this posed to Brent residents.

The discussion of the repercussions of the closure of Ealing Hospital Maternity ward also centred on capacity.

Councillors were told that the facility was no longer viable and an earlier closure than the two years initially planned was necessary to maintain safe services. Northwick Park and Imperial had the capacity to expand maternity provision without infrastructure work and a maternity booking service would be introduced.  41% of Brent mothers already attend Imperial which includes Queen Charlotte's in Hammersmith. Ealing staff would be transferred to other facilities over a transitional period.

Officers said that current activity in the hospitals was less than the previous maximum and the expected rise in numbers would be within that maximum. there was an expectation that 95% of women would get their first choice of maternity care. The only cap was at Queen Charlotte's Hospital.

Cllr Mary Daly challenged this in the light of the area's rising birthrate. In summing up Cllr Colwill said that the Committee was not convinced that the rise in birthrate had been sufficiently taken into account and remained  concerned about whether alternative provision would be in place in time.

The main discussion on the future use of the Central Middlesex Hospital site following the closure of the A&E, was the transfer of rehabilitation beds from the Willesden Centre to Central Middlesex.  This raises the question of the future use of the vacated space at Willesden.

The plans for moving Park Royal mental health facilities to Central Middlesex are not going ahead. This was because the costs arising from the 'enhancements for mental health service would not be economically appropriate'.




Monday 16 December 2013

Protest against Hunt's attempt to curb legal challenges to hospital closures

There was a protest today by campaigners fighting Jeremy Hunt's attempt to add a clause to the Social Care bill which would prevent communities taking legal action, such as that of the Lewisham Hospitals Campaign,  against hospital closure plans.

Saturday 9 November 2013

Stop them Blocking A Healthier Future: Give evidence to People's Inquiry into London's NHS

Guest blog from Sarah Cox

The People's Inquiry on London's NHS held its NW London session yesterday in Ealing. There was powerful and compelling testimony from many people, notably Anne Drinkell, who described from her immediate experience, backed up by research, the strains on those working in the community, their need for accessible comprehensive back up services in hospital for the increasingly complex needs of the patients and the inadequacy of the Shaping a Healthier Future proposals. She proclaimed her commitment to keeping people out of hospital wherever possible, but the resources are being cut, not expanded as they would need to be.

Gurinder Sandhu, a consultant in infectious diseases at Ealing Hospital spoke passionately about the increase in TB - Brent and Ealing have levels higher than many third world countries - the multiple problems caused by increases in homelessness and the number of patients living "below the radar" with whom Ealing Hospital has formed relationships.

Mary Daly, asked at the last minute to take Muhammed Butt's place, was absolutely excellent. Her experience as a health visitor informed her understanding of the problems we face and the inadequacy of the Out of Hospital care proposals without adequate resources and the dangers of fragmentation of our local health services especially as Brent CCG seems to be pursuing a policy of "macho privatisation" a phrase used by one of the panel members.

Participating in these inquiries is really worthwhile. There are more sessions to come and email evidence is also welcome. Please everyone add your experience and views. Unlike the mock Shaping a Healthier Future "consultation" they will be taken seriously. www.peoplesinquiry.org

Thursday 6 June 2013

Gareth Thomas and Barry Gardiner press for Northwick Park expansion before A&E reconfiguration

From the parliamentary debate on A&E waiting times:

Stephen Pound (Ealing North, Labour)
I am grateful to my hon. Friend and neighbour for giving way. In view of what he has just said, does he think that the best possible prescription is that currently recommended by the Government whereby the existing A and E departments at Ealing, Park Royal, Hammersmith and Charing Cross all close? Does he think that will improve waiting times in A and E departments?

Gareth Thomas (Harrow West, Labour)
My hon. Friend, as ever, is ahead of me. He makes the perfectly reasonable point that if the Northwick Park and Central Middlesex A and E departments are not achieving the 95% target now, how can our constituents have any more confidence about reaching that target should the Central Middlesex and Ealing hospitals close?

Barry Gardiner (Brent North, Labour)
As my hon. Friend knows, Northwick Park is just in my constituency and we share that border. Does he agree that whatever the future configuration of hospitals in north-west London, it is absolutely essential that the A and E unit at Northwick Park is expanded to cope and that that should happen before any reconfiguration?
.....


Gareth Thomas (Harrow West, Labour)
I share the view of my neighbour and hon. Friend Barry Gardiner. We need that expansion to go ahead, and to go ahead soon.

Sunday 7 October 2012

Brent, Hammersmith and Ealing march together to save hospitals

Refusing to be divided from one another with localist claims of one hospital against another, campaigners from Brent, Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham marched to gather on Saturday calling for ALL the hospital A&E departments in the area to be saved, thus preventing the eventual running down of the main hospitals.

Speakers included the Leader of Ealing Council and a Conservative councillor from Hammersmith. Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, joined the march briefly before going off  another official engagement.

However it was the speeches from hospital workers, patients, trade unionists (including Christine Blower, General Secretary of the NUT) and a mother of 5 children which really galvanised the crowd.  Pete Firmin, secretary of Brent Trade Union Council, was applauded when he emphasised the need for unity and outlined how the closures were an attack on the most vulnerable in Stonebridge and Harlesden.

The following comments from the public on the Hammersmith and Fulham Council website about Charing Cross A&E  echo many that have been made about Central Middlesex A&E:

Closing this A&E would mean over-burdening others in West London - the people of Hammersmith need this facility. NHS efficiency drives are to do with saving money, not with saving lives.
Jane Thurston-Hoskins
 
Has anyone tried getting to the Chelsea and Westminster hospital in a hurry, especially during a Chelsea football match?!!
S Jenner
 
What are planners thinking of!! Have they ever been to C&W Hospital from almost any direction and any time. Fulham Road is permanently gridlocked even for busses and there is no near by underground.I suppose it is a convenient way of having a quiet A&E. And where do patient go when they have to be admitted. ?To ChX. And why was ChX's A&E department been given an overhaul only recently. I do speak out of experience with both hospitals. ChX is by far the more caring hospital And what if there is an accident on the A4 The so called planners are an absolute disgrace. I could go on!!
Dina Harris
 
Keep Charing Cross Hospital with a full range of departments. I am disabled; it is my nearest hospital and the most accessible one. I have been well looked after in dealing with my cataracts, hammer toes and mastectomy. I remember it being built, serving a great need.
Patricia Owen
 
Absolutely agree. Charing Cross is a fantastic hospital with very high standard of care, at the forefront of medical technology and life saving equipment. My son was saved there at 3.5 years old after falling under a car. I have just had a laparoscopy on my gall bladder. I cannot believe what a high standard it is. It is clean, friendly and has super nursing and consultant staff.
Ewa Sylwestrowicz






Thursday 23 August 2012

Astonishingly, no risk assessment carried out on NW London NHS proposals

The NW London NHS proposals for far reaching changes in health provision have not been subject to a risk assessment despite them involving the closure of four Accident and Emergency facilities, including that at Central Middlesex Hospital, and the down-grading of several hospitals in the area.  The proposals affect 700,000 people.

The revelation was made at the August 2nd meeting of the NW London NHS Joint Overview and Scrutiny Committee on which Cllr Sandra Kabir is Brent's representative. Risk registers are a standard method of assessing the risks on a High, Medium or Low traffic light system, establishing the nature of the risk and who is affected, and the strategies for reducing that risk.  Brent Council has such a scheme in its Corporate Risk Register LINK

Instead the authors of the Shaping a Healthier Future proposals proposed that the risk assessment would only be made AFTER the consultation and when the proposals have been approved. This means that councillors and the general public will have no way of assessing the severity of the risk posed to residents,  which clearly could  be a matter of life or death, during the consultation period. In effect they will be making a response without knowledge of the potential impact of the proposals on people's health and well-being.

The committee was clearly concerned and agreed to 'revisit' the issue at a later meeting.Cllr Lucy Ivimy (Conservative, Hammersmith and Fulham) wrote to a concerned member of the public who attended the meeting:
I agree with you about the lack of a risk register and as you say, for the NHS to produce one only after the decision has been taken is extraordinary. The committee will be looking further into various aspects of risk. I am personally concerned that the full impact of the proposed changes has not been made clear in this consultation process.
A further critical issue was the consultation document's claim that the proposed changes were based on 'tried or tested ways of delivering healthcare' that it claims already work in many parts of NW London and the rest of the county (p20). The two expert witnesses heard by the committee were less sure. Asked about whether the structure worked in other parts of Europe Professor Welbourn admitted, 'there is no evidence the  system will work'. Asked whether it would be possible to deliver the necessary community services involved in the changes, Dr Honeyman said, 'no one knows, no one has ever been here before'.

These revelations show that we are being sold a pig in a poke and it is imperative that the proposals are subject to robust scrutiny at the appropriate committees at the  NW London NHS and local council level. They confirm the need for a broad-based campaign against the changes..




Sunday 24 June 2012

Damning report on hospital closure plans

Plans to drastically cut health services are exposed in a hard hitting Report “North West London’s NHS - Under the Knife”, written by John Lister, Director of London Health Emergency.
 
The Report, commissioned by Ealing, Brent and Harrow Trades Union Councils, shows that far from improving or modernising services, the outcome of the NWL NHS plans, “Shaping a Healthier Future” , would inevitably be a massive reduction in both hospital beds and services, without any corresponding increase in alternative provision.
  
Dr Lister states that the proposals “could result in the loss of 1750 NHS jobs in 12 months, and 5,600 jobs by 2015, along with the downgrading and downsizing of many local hospitals and services, and the closure of up to 4 of its 8 A&E units.”
 
Although NWL NHS try to avoid stating which hospitals and A&E Departments are under threat; Dr Lister’s analysis shows that the targets of the cuts are likely to be Ealing, Central Middlesex, Charing Cross and Hammersmith, leaving a massive area of London without A&E provision.
 
He goes on to say that “trendy arguments ... suggesting that new “settings” can deliver services more efficiently and effectively than hospitals: the only snag is that these “settings” and services exist only on paper, lacking the funds, facilities, staff and any political commitment to make them a reality.”
 
Dr Lister will be the headline speaker at the Ealing TUC public meeting on Tuesday 26th June at 7.30pm in Ealing Town Hall.  

The report is posted below:

Friday 15 June 2012

Campaign launched to save Central Middlesex Hospital

The overnight closure of the Accident and Emergency service at Park Royal's Central Middlesex Hospital is likely to be the first step in running down the hospital and its eventual closure a Harlesden meeting was told last week.

North West London NHS is currently consulting on an amalgamation of Ealing, Central Middlesex and Northwick Park hospitals and it looks as if Harlesden and Stonebridge, the poorest areas in Brent may lose their local hospital and have to travel to A and E at Northwick Park, despite very poor public transport links. It is likely that A and E at Ealing, Charing Cross and Hammersmith may also close.

John Lister addresses the meeting
 John Lister, from the London Health Emergency has been commissioned by Ealing, Brent and Harrow Trade Union Councils, to write a report on the likely impact of the cost-cutting changes. The report will be available soon and a condensed version will be distributed as a tabloid newspaper.

Lister said that the pattern was one of a gradual reduction of different services, starting with A and E, eventually leaving the hospital as an nearly empty shell, which is then closed because people are not using it and nurses and doctors are reluctant to apply for jobs there,

With £314m cuts to be made by NW London NHS by 2015 the hospital closures are just the beginning. Stressing that decisions are being made in order to balance the books, and not on clinical grounds, Lister said that 1,750 jobs will go in the near future, of which 1,000 are clinical.

The aim is to direct patients to 'lower cost' settings, including the setting in which you die. That setting may be your front room and the carer yourself. Jargon such as 'pathway redesign' and 'corporate efficiency' conceal an overall strategy to reduce the number of patients seeking treatment and to restrict access to expensive treatments. The target is to reduce emergency cases annually to a level equivalent to 391 hospital beds and a 22% cut in out-patient appointments.

A further aim is to introduce private providers into the service so that the NHS, the largest public sector organisation, is open to exploitation for profit. The NHS will be left with A & E and maternity services, which are 'too dangerous' for private companies but 'any qualified provider' will offer other services (Virgin, Sainsbury's) undermining pay structures and qualification systems. Lister stressed that with PCTs due to go,GP commissioners will be left holding the baby, but wouldn't have been responsible for the changes that have been made.

John Lister urged local people to use the consultation period to build a movement against the local changes AND against the privatisation of the NHS, lobbying GPs, MPs and local councillors.

Candy Unwin urges broad-based campaigning
 Candy Unwin from Camden Keep Our NHS Public recounted campaign success in saving Whittington Hospital . Different hospitals, cross party and non-party political groups, trades unions, tenants and unions had come together in a united campaign. She said that 1 in 6 Labour members of the house of Lords and 1 in 4 Tories get money from private companies and that 30 MPs get funding from Virgin, one of the main bidders.

Phil Rose, a regional official from UNITE, said that the changes would result in high quality provision for private patients and low quality for the rest of us. He said that one thing standing in the way of privatisation was NHS workers' terms and conditions which the private sector cannot match. The pensions changes was an attempt to reduce these conditions to make the sector attractive to the private sector. He urged support for the '68 is too late' campaign on retirement age and drew parallels with the creeping  privatisation of schools. Job cuts, down-grading of jobs and pay cuts were all in the offing.

In a powerful speech a member of the Methodist Church spoke about Harlesden being a poor area and needing and valuing its local hospital and pledged herself to make people aware of the situation. She said 'Some people are going to die because of these changes'.

 I spoke about the link between health and schools as not being just in terms of the privatisation issue, but also that schools were frequent users of A and E when children have accidents and reliant on accessible emergency treatment in incidents such as that at Chalkhill Primary (see below). With its many railway lines, the North Circular Road, Wembley Stadium, industry at Park Royal and Neasden, there was a risk of a major incident and we needed accessible emergency services to cope. Added to that, although things were quieter at present, there was the possibility of violence and the need for a hospital experiences, as Central Middlesex is, in the treatment of gun shot and knife injuries.

Graham Durham's suggestion of a march in September from Harlesden to Central Middlesex Hospital under the banner of Save Central Middlesex Hospital, Save North West London Health Services, was enthusiastically endorsed by the meeting as was a message of solidarity to doctors taking action on Thursday.

Friday 8 June 2012

June 13th: NHS under the knife


Enormous changes to our local health services are being proposed. They include the merger of Ealing Hospital with Central Middlesex and Northwick Park, permanent closure of A & E at Ealing or CMH, or both, and moving many services out of hospitals into the community.

Unless we campaign to oppose them, these changes will open up even more services to the private sector to be run for profit. The population is growing and health needs are increasing, while NHS budgets are being cut.

Community health services are already understaffed and overstretched. If new services are not put in place before hospital services are withdrawn, the most vulnerable patients will suffer

Tuesday 13 December 2011

Hospital Merger Plans Challenged

36 people turned up at the Sattavis Patidar Centre, Forty Avenue last night to discuss the proposed merger of Ealing and North West London Hospitals Trust (covering Central Middlesex, Northwick Park and St Mark's hospitals). This compared with 100 at the recent Ealing meeting and a 'client' base of 800,000 people.


Professor Rory Shaw, Medical Director, made the case for the merger. The organisational merger would enable the joint Trust to have larger specialist teams which would be more viable than the present small teams, enable shift-work to take place and would attract high calibre staff Economies of scale would mean the Trust could keep pace with developments by buying up to date equipment and make resources, including scanners and operating theatres 'work harder' and the buildings 'earn their keep'. 

He said that Northwick Park's  stroke care unit was a good example of the merits of large, centralised teams and had led to better survival rates and fewer cases of paralysis.


Although the Chair of Brent LINk (Local Involvement Network) had stipulated that the meeting was not to discuss services, Shaw said that the merger was being proposed against the consultation on the commissioning of services that would take place in Summer 2012.  The focus would be on prevention and long-term conditions and more care and treatment in the community. He claimed that the latter was bothe cheaper and more effective.


He said that the move was taking place as a time when there was a general recognition that bigger was better. Other speeches from the six suited males on the platform extolled the merits of 'an army of generic workers', with an implication that these might be volunteers, who could help patients at home with hospital-home transition. We were treated to the management  mantra 'Localise where possible, centralise where necessary'.


Challenged that the presentation had not mentioned the financial plight of the NWLH Trust and that the merger proposal was a cover for cuts, the platform said that there was a financial saving involved of £7m and that this was specified in the Business Plan. Savings would be made in management and through reduction in 'back office' costs. Asked if  'developing the estate' meant selling off prime sites, especially in the light of the apparent running down of the Ealing and Central Middlesex hospitals, they said that sell-offs were not in the Business Plan but 'there may be scope for that in the future'.

Carers criticised the emphasis on volunteers and a speaker from the Sickle Society was concerned about the speed of the changes and poor consultation with users. He said that there had not been sufficient consideration of the needs of people with Sickle Cell and Central Middlesex Hospital's historic role in providing specialist care.

The platform was challenged on the implications of patients having to travel further for treatment and concern that the disadvantaged population of South Brent would be further disadvantaged if Central Middlesex was run down. Health inequalities would increase. A speaker from the floor made a strong demand for a Equality Impact Assessment. Despite repeated requests the platform were un able to advise which bus patients should get from Harlesden to Northwick Park Hospital.

Behind it all was the implication that larger teams would mean each site would have different specialisms which would not be offered at other hospitals in the Trust. The platform argued that routine care would still be provided at each hospital. A question asking if the new arrangements would be able to cope with a 'major incident' in South Brent with its many railways, the North Circular, waste sites and commercial premises; was not answered.


Brent LINk will be putting together its response and you can contribute: brentlink@hestia.org Tel: 020 8965 0309. Brent LINk Unit 56, The Designworks, Park Parade, Harlesden, London, NW10 4HT

Harrow LINk will hold its own consultation:
HARROW LINk: Thursday 12 January 2012. Registration and refreshments from 5.30pm. Event starts at 5.50pm and will close at 8pm. Premier House Banqueting, Canning Road, Harrow, HA3 7TS. Places are limited. If you like to attend please contact Harrow LINk at info@harrowlink.org.uk
or call 020 8863 3355.


TIMETABLE
November 2011 Outline Business Case for merger signed off by NHS London
March/April 2012 Full Business Case approved by the Trust Boards and NHS London
May 2012 Submission for approval by Department of Health Transaction Board
July 2012 Merger takes places
Autumn 2012 Commissioning of Services

Shahrar Ali's report on the meeting is HERE



Friday 9 December 2011

Brent needs a properly resourced Central Middlesex Hospital

Is Central Middlesex being reduced to a 'poly clinic'?
 The possible merger of the Ealing Hospital and North West London Hospitals Trust is being discussed in a series of meetings in Ealing, Brent and Harrow but anxiety about the future of Central Middlesex (commonly known locally as 'Park Royal') Hospital is likely to be a big issue.

A meeting of 100 people at Ealing Town Hall yesterday provoked a lively discussion with many people concerned about the running down of Central Middlesex Hospital as well as the merger itself. Hospital administrators when challenged admitted there had not been consultation over the withdrawal of overnight Accident and Emergency Services at Central Middlesex and said the decision had been made on 'clinical grounds'. They said they hope to reopen the facility soon. They also stated that an NHS bid to run the service had been rejected in favour of one from Care UK.

The gradual running down of a hospital serving a deprived area such as South Brent/Park Royal is causing considerable concern. Health in poorer neighbourhoods is already an issue: there is heavy pollution from the North Circular Road affecting many local children, possibilities of traffic accidents on the North Circular a higher possibility of gun and knife wounds and more  illness associated with alcohol and drug abuse.

Families and individuals lacking cars to transport them to Ealing or Northwick Park would have a difficult journey to the hospitals or may have to resort to calling an ambulance. More and longer ambulance journeys seem a distinct possibility.

 We have to be concerned about whether a reduced Central Middlesex would be able to cope with a .major incident' in the area.

Central Middlesex has a history of being responsive to the needs of the local population and was instrumental in getting sickle cell anaemia recognised as an illness and pioneering treatment.  There are further specific illnesses in our loaclity, such as TB,  which require such an approach.




BBC REPORT

Make your voice count – LINks will be holding events to seek views from its members and the public regarding the proposed merger


LINks across Brent, Ealing and Harrow will be holding events to seek the view of LINks members and the public regarding the proposed merger of Ealing Hospital NHS Trust and The North West London Hospitals NHS Trust. Representatives from the Trusts will give a presentation and be available to answers questions. The events are as follows:

BRENT LINk: Monday 12 December 2011. Registration and light refreshments from 6.30pm. Event starts at 7pm and will close at approximately 9pm. Sattavis Patidar Centre, Forty Avenue at the junction with The Avenue, Wembley Park, Middlesex HA9 9PE. Places are limited. If you would like to attend, please call the Brent LINk Team on 020 8965 0309 or email: brentlink@hestia.org

HARROW LINk: Thursday 12 January 2012. Registration and refreshments from 5.30pm. Event starts at 5.50pm and will close at 8pm. Premier House Banqueting, Canning Road, Harrow, HA3 7TS. Places are limited. If you like to attend please contact Harrow LINk at info@harrowlink.org.uk
or call 020 8863 3355.