CQC report

The CQC report on KGH and Queens has been published, a bit that stands out for me is at page 8 which I copy below. The highlighting is mine.

Emergency care remains the area of greatest concern to CQC. Demand on

services is enormous and our original investigation and inspections since have

found this service is consistently failing to meet essential standards.

A combination of demand, problems with staffing, challenges in streaming

patients properly, and blockages elsewhere in the hospital mean the emergency

department at Queen’s in particular is struggling to deliver acceptable care.

Patients often face significant delays in admission, treatment and discharge.

The lack of available beds across the hospital causes a backlog that has an

impact on people arriving in A&E. The hospital continues to struggle to recruit

middle grade doctors and there is reliance on doctors from locum agencies.

This reduces the level of senior medical cover in the department, meaning it can

be difficult to find people qualified to make decisions about treatment, which

leads to delays in people being given access to the right care.

This level of concern about emergency care is corroborated by a range of

external sources, ranging from information from patients and other stakeholders,

through to performance data and other regulatory sources. A major programme

of work is underway at the Trust, supported by external partners, to try to

address this. More detail on this programme - and on our recent inspection

findings - is in section 3.ENDS

NHS management should respond to this report by abandoning KGH A&E and maternity closure plans, but I am not sure they will do this, so the campaign needs to keep going. Most organisations work on a first in first out basis when it comes to redundancy, I guess the NHS is no different.

The closure plans means an incredible 25% reduction in medical staff per page 123 of the NHS decision making business case by 2015. Is it any wonder BHRUT is struggling to recruit permanent staff when it is the record as saying that 1 in 4 are to be sacked by 2014?

At page 7 of the report the CQC say

The North East London and City cluster has taken on formal responsibility for

implementation of this maternity plan, which will see decisions taken across the

cluster to improve access to safe maternity care. This has already seen plans

implemented (spring 2012) to move around 20 bookings a week from the Trust

to Barts Healthcare, taking advantage of capacity elsewhere in the cluster

(particularly Newham Hospital). These bookings will translate into births from

November.ENDS

So it seems large numbers of women will be going to Newham, not an easy journey and KGH maternity is to close, how can this be an improvement in the sevice?

I am encouraging KGH activists to ask questions about KGH at full council on 19th July. I will not looking to put down a question which is critical of the  Redbridge administration. My first draft question is;

Does the Leader of the Council agree with Mike Gapes and Lee Scott MP that the London Ambulance Service should publish a risk assessment on whether the proposed closure of King George A&E in the future will have an adverse impact on Redbridge residents?

I asked the LAS about this some time ago and was ignored, if full council is with Mike and Lee on this, hopefully LAS will provide a response. Good questions on the 19th and a well attended meeting on the 20th will help keep the campaign going. If you have any ideas for questions on the 19th please let me know.

More than ever, I am convinced that Lee Scott's claim that people will die if these closure plans go through is correct and if you can help the campaign in any way it will be much appreciated.