Midday Deadline today for BHRUT to respond to "3 missing words" press release due to go out today

I will send this to the journalist who ran the BBC TV story on 30th March 2019 if BHRUT do not amend their press release to include "of all ages" into what is currently a bogus statement about the future of King George A&E. Amended press releases will go to other journalists

Dear Sir 

We spoke back in March re the closure of King George A&E about a walk and meeting to save King George A&E to take place on 30^th March.

The day before the meeting on the 29^th the Leader of Redbridge Council issued a statement (1) to say King George A&E was safe. You ran the story anyway and Keith Prince did an interview which was carried on the TV news on the 30^th March.

Due to campaigners' effort a failed 2018 £49M bid to close King George A&E as a type 1 unit, and replace it with a type 2 & 3 unit was published in April 2019.

This bid is attached along with a definition of a type 1,2,3 A&E units.

A key passage of the bid is at page 7, the option 2 (Variant) clearly means downgrading King George from a type 1 unit to a type 2 & 3 unit. Although, BHRUT give the impression that this is not the case using clever sophistry and deception rather than a downright lie. 

Yesterday BHRUT issued a press release to say King George A&E was safe. It implies King George A&E was safe as type 1 unit, but a careful reading shows it as no such thing, the press release is pure sophistry.

The full version is below at (2) below.

The key text extract is as follows:

The A&E at KGH will continue to be a consultant-led service, open 24 hours a day, with full resuscitation facilities and designated accommodation for the reception of accident and emergency patients (currently known as a Type 1 A&E department). We have never suggested otherwise. (my emphasis)

The underlined lined text is entirely consistent with a downgrade to a type 2 unit. A type 2 unit can be everything BHRUT say in the underlined text about a consultant led service etc. but BHRUT leave out the the key words “of all ages” after “the reception of accident and emergency patients” so leaving the door open to a speciality type 2 A&E for the elderly.

The game is given away by saying it is “currently known as a Type 1”. And the second sentence confirms the guarantee is limited to type 2 because what they have suggested otherwise in the past is clearly type 2 per the £49M bid.

BHRUT were given a deadline to insert the three missing words “of all ages” into their press release by midday today. They failed to do so, Mr Bown the Chief Executive of BHRUT is engaging in deliberate deception of East London residents 

Details of walk and meeting for 20th July at

https://www.facebook.com/events/2960949763945148/

1) Leader statement of 1^st March

A&E at King George Hospital: Leader's statement

Published: 29 March 2019

Following publication today of an open letter on healthcare funding in the borough and the future of A&E at King George Hospital, Council Leader Cllr Jas Athwal said:

"After years of hard work, I am delighted that I have been able to guarantee that emergency care will continue to be provided at King George Hospital. Our residents deserve the security of knowing their A&E is close by in times of need, and this letter provides it.

"We should be clear that KGH needs significant national investment not simply to maintain, but to improve the quality of service. It is extremely disappointing that a request for over £70m of national capital investment was unsuccessful.

"I know that there has been a great deal of confusion about this capital bid, with some suggesting incorrectly that our plans to improve local services is actually a new threat to services at the KGH. These concerns are unwarranted, unhelpful and are simply causing unnecessary concern. It gives me great pleasure to be able to categorically deny these rumours.

"Let me be clear, as our letter does today: A&E services at King George will remain open.  It is time for scaremongering to stop."

2) BHRUT press release of 17.7.19

For the past three months we have been examining what Queen’s Hospital in Romford and King George Hospital in Ilford will look like in the future as part of developing a new clinical strategy.

This is an exciting opportunity for us to think creatively about how we provide the best possible services for local people across the NHS while also recognising the key role of our partners, including our councils. We want to make sure we are thinking about solutions which will stand the test of time. We accept that more change is inevitable, and rightly so.

We will share our initial ideas with our staff, local people, communities, partners and stakeholders to test our thinking and shape the final clinical strategy.

We must remain open and flexible to a range of solutions and options to make the right decisions for the people we serve. However, throughout this process we have been clear that the Emergency Department at King George Hospital (KGH) is safe and that there is a need for such provision both now and into the future.

The A&E at KGH will continue to be a consultant-led service, open 24 hours a day, with full resuscitation facilities and designated accommodation for the reception of accident and emergency patients (currently known as a Type 1 A&E department). We have never suggested otherwise.

We are concerned that ongoing false rumours about the future of the A&E unit at King George Hospital could have an adverse impact on our efforts to recruit and retain vital frontline staff and will worry our residents unnecessarily.

Chris Bown
Interim Chief Executive
Barking Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT)

Ceri Jacob
Managing Director
Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge CCGs (BHR CCGs)