Petition started on Change.Org

I have set up a petition on change to promote the 17th November meeting. Once 1500 signatures are reached it causes a debate for Councillors at Redbridge Town Hall, this will lead to a discussion about how we best campaign to save our A&E.

The petition is at

Save King George A&E petition


The text is below:

We the undersigned who either live or work in Redbridge note the following:

1 - Andy Walker had a stroke diagnosed following a fit at King George Hospital in December 2017. The doctors decided that it was best for Andy to be treated in a critical care bed at King George Hospital. His care involved being put into a medical coma and given mechanical assistance with breathing. Once stabilised, Andy was transferred the next day to the Queens stroke unit. Due to the excellent care Andy has made a good recovery.

2 - Following a Freedom of Information request Andy discovered that on 12 days in February 2018, the critical care bed unit at King George Hospital was full up. The Queens critical care unit was full up 5 times in the same month. On 2 days both units were full on the same day.

3 – It is accepted that critical care beds not only improve mortality rates but also improve the quality of recovery. Critical care beds help a wide range of patients including, heart, trauma, stroke, sepsis, emergency surgery and other life threatening conditions. Critical care beds cost more to provide than other hospital beds. However, some of the cost can be off set by the increased ability of patients to work again and/or the reduction of life long handicaps which can result in long term care needs.

4 – Keith Prince AM, the London Assembly member for Havering and Councillors Deon Burton, O'Flynn, Dodin and Bob Archer, the Secretary of Redbridge Trades Council handed a letter into 10 Downing Street on the 12th July calling for more funding for critical care beds for both King George & Queens Hospitals. Cllr Emily Rodwell was unable to attend for personal reasons. The signatories represented three boroughs on a cross party basis.

5 – In Redbridge Council cabinet papers for 17th July 2018. Barking Havering & Redbridge University Hospitals Trust (BHRUT) refused to give an assurance that the future of King George A&E was secure. This means 299 beds for emergency admissions at King George, including the 8 critical care beds are under threat of closure.

This led to Councillor Santos, the cabinet member for health publishing a statement on the Redbridge Council website on 17th July stating: “This Council will fight tooth and nail to retain our A&E at King George Hospital”

We ask the Council to:

a - Campaign to persuade BHRUT to honour the second recommendation of the “Revised Clinical Strategy for King George Hospital” on the East London Health & Care Partnership website which states:

“A new clinical model of emergency care is developed across North East London which builds on the roles of BHRUT, Barts Health in partnership with the Clinical Commissioning Groups and the potential for the system to offer a comprehensive and efficient urgent and emergency care model...BHRUT will initiate and lead this work” (some acronyms removed)

b - Build a cross party and cross borough campaign to extend King George Hospital by at least 2 critical care beds and one ward and work with other councils for extending Queens Hospital to cope with the increasing North East London population.

c – Support the Save King George Hospital A&E meeting for 3pm at Redbridge Town Hall on the 17th November 2018 by publicising the event on the Redbridge Council website and future cross party and cross borough events.