Dear Councillors
Photo
shoot re plan to close Cedar Chemotherapy unit at King George
Hospital & transfer to Queens
Date:
Saturday 18th August Midday
Location:
Outside Redbridge Town Hall
Writing
to you on the 9th August appears to have led to BHRUT
issuing a statement about the Cedar unit which is the end of this
email (1)
This
statement is welcome, but it still leaves the questions I asked of
BHRUT unanswered which are:
1 –
Why were Councillors not consulted about the planned closure?
2
– Why is BHRUT breaching their own clinical services strategy,
available on their website, to keep outpatients at King George?
3
– Why is BHRUT breeching their commitment to keep care close to
home in their clinical services strategy?
4
– Will BHRUT provide full disclosure of the documents relating to
the planned closure, especially the proposed staffing to patient
ratios and the impact to the Queens car park?
5
– Can Joe Fielder, the BHRUT chair, provide an assurance that on
his watch, no further cuts to services will take place until elected
representatives and the public via board papers have been notified
and consulted in advance?
The
BHRUT statement implies the proposed closure of the Cedar unit is an
improvement to their service. BHRUT also claim that the proposed
closure of King George A&E will also improve the service to
residents. The evidence is clear at that closing emergency admission
beds at King George as preparation for the A&E has led to a worse
service at both King George and Queens (2).
This
begs the question of whether closing outpatient departments at King
George will lead to a worse outpatient service at Queens.
BHRUT
provide no evidence to support their claim that the reduction in
service from five days to two days at the Cedar unit is a service
improvement. So I hope you will agree that a five day a week service
for the Cedar unit should be restored and the plan to close the unit
abandoned.
If
you cannot make the photos shoot, any quotes from Councillors for the
press would be very much appreciated.
Requesting
your help with regarding BHRUT statistics on Time to admit &
Sepsis, Pneumonia, Urinary Tract Infections
On
29th March I wrote to BHRUT to information about the
above statistics:
My
argument for the information to be released relied upon was:
The
report is available
here http://moderngov.redbridge.gov.uk/documents/s113032/BHRUTEDScrutinyWGoutcomereport-final.pdf
I
realise this information comes at a cost. However, yesterday the
Redbridge Health Scrutiny committee called for two extra wards to be
opened at BHRUT. It to be proportionate for the costs of this
information to be allowed for the public to judge whether additional
funding for our NHS is required “ end of quote
On
1st May 2018 BHRUT wrote to me to supply the following (3)
For the month of February
a) The average time from
being seen by a doctor to a decision being made to admit:
295 minutes
295 minutes
b) The time taken to arrive at a diagnosis for the following conditions:
However, since then in an
email dated 7th August (4) BHRUT refuse to provide further
monthly information and cast doubt upon the information supplied on
1st May 2018. I am seeking to lodge a “decision review”,
should you be supportive of this information being provided each
month I would be grateful if you could send me an email and I would
use it as a reason for BHRUT to disclose the information I seek.
A
recent Panamora concerning the conviction of
Dr Hadiza Bawa Garba
and the tragic death of Jack
Adcock shows why it
is important for sepsis and life threatening conditions to be
diagnosed quickly.
Tracking these conditions
each month is an essential part of monitering what is hapeening at
King George and Queens and I would be grateful for any help you can
provide on this point.
Regards
Andy
Walker
(1)
BHRUT statement on Cedar unit below
Following
your recent email to several councillors and the questions you’ve
raised on social media I thought it might be helpful if I provided
you with the following information.
In
June we consolidated the number of days over which we give
chemotherapy treatment in the Cedar Centre at King George Hospital
from four days to three. Since then, due to changes in demand and
thanks to careful management of patients, we have consolidated this
further to two days, ensuring we
use our resources as efficiently as possible.
We
are hugely proud of our recent track record in cancer. Just this week
we hit the national standard for 12 months in a row. We’ve also
introduced cutting edge technology to our radiotherapy departments
that is putting us on track to being one of the most advanced cancer
centres in the NHS.
We
are always looking at ways to improve our services and
are already liaising closely with Scrutiny Committee colleagues
around any potential future proposals.
We
will engage and involve our patients and public in any changes we
would like to make to improve the quality of their care and their
experiences at our hospitals,as we
routinely do.
(2)
Various articles at http://savekinggeorgehospital.blogspot.com/
over the years. An example is here
http://savekinggeorgehospital.blogspot.com/2018/07/council-attack-bhrut-over-king-george.html
3 The
BHRUT email extract is below of 1st May 2018 disclosing Sepsis and other information
4 BHRUT refuse to disclose information below on 7th August:
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