Queens A&E to have cap imposed

A recent CQC investigation of Queens A&E found waiting times of up to 11 hours.

The BBC report is here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-21249500

According to the report Queens A&E is to have a cap put on the numbers of patients who will be able to use the A&E.

This comes after an NHS press release stated earlier this month:

 

A&E

 

Attendance Statistics

 

 • Queen’s A&E has seen a 22% (26,859 patients) rise in attendances from 2011 to 2012.

 • In 2012 Queen’s saw 73 patients a day more than in 2011. • In 2012 Queen’s had 23 days where there were more than 470 A&E attendances. In 2011 there were three days where there were more than 470 attendances. • The average number of attendances a day in 2012 was 404. In 2011 it was 331.

The highest number of attendees in one day in 2012 was 518.

•

Too many patients are having to wait too long to complete their care in our Emergency department (A&E). The target is for 95% of patients to leave the department in under 4 hours, either to be admitted to a hospital bed, or to be treated and return home. Only 81% of our patients were cared for in this timeframe in December.

This is a very serious concern for us, and a problem that has a number of causes. There are issues with medical staffing, flow through our hospitals, delayed discharges, and the sheer volume of attendances. We are working across the hospitals to reduce delays and free up hospital beds. We are also working with our partners in primary care and social care to reduce avoidable admissions and delayed discharges. We are working to address this problem and will keep you updated on our progress.ENDs

 

The A&E closure plans for King George Hospital have to be abandoned now, to do anything else would be irresponsible. Attendances at Queens A&E are rising sharply, as a consquence a cap is to be imposed, KGH has to stay open because Queens cannot cope with the demand.