The 1500 plus petition was heard last night at Redbridge Council. The petition is HERE The officer recommendation was to do nothing with it, in effect to bin it.
I made the speech below seeking Cllrs overturn the officer recommendation. I am delighted to say Cllrs listened and agreed to pass the petition forward to health scrutiny on a cross party basis. The next step is to persuade the Council to set up a working party and produce a detailed report into the matter. Speech is below:
Firstly, I want to put my thanks on record to the late Cllr Stuart Bellwood for his help in campaigning on King George over the years. I recently tweeted a photo of Stuart, Jas and others campaigning for maternity to come back to King George.
I am puzzled that no public questions are allowed tonight, my petition is being heard about King George now, but not my question on King George which was tabled earlier this year for the same meeting as this petition.
So if the Mayor allows the Leader to respond by suspending standing orders. I ask this question of the Leader.
Why isn't this Labour Council supporting the campaign for a new wing at King George Hospital comprising maternity and more in-patient acute beds by referring this petition to the Health Scrutiny Committee?
(assuming no reply)
I raise this because an earlier petition of mine was referred to HSC and a working paper prepared a detailed report into King George & Queens chaired by Wes Streeting which was a vital part of the campaign to keep open King George A&E.
The campaign for a new wing at King George will not really take off until this Council refers this issue to HSC, prepares a detailed report and gets the support of all Redbridge parties before moving on to lobby other boroughs
However, while we should campaign for a new wing for King George, we must not be complacent about the threat to King George A&E as a type 1 unit. Children's A&E at King George was closed earlier this year as a type 1 unit when Clover Ward, the only children in-patient ward was closed. BHRUT claim the Children's A&E remains open as a type 1 facility, this is a nonsense. By this reasoning BHRUT could claim King George A&E could stay open as a type 1 facility if there was not a single in patient bed!
It must also be of concern that the 111 service has not been informed of the closure of Clover ward.
I am baffled that a chunk of my petition has been cut out as follows:
“Cllr Neil Zammett, Chair of Redbridge Health Scrutiny reported on 3rd October 2019 that following an investigation of BHRUT reporting of A&E four hour waits that there had probably been an “understatement” of figures reported since August 2018 “
Why Redbridge officers are not presenting the full text of a petition is beyond me, it begs questions as to whether other documents are being edited without Cllr's knowledge.
Four hour A&E statistics are a vital benchmark of a hospital's performance, that Cllr Zammett had concerns about BHRUT reporting is not something that should be covered up.
My concern is that BHRUT still plan to close King George A&E as a type 1 facility, substantial steps to closing the unit have not been reversed such as the decline in King George admissions shown at page 24 of the Wes Streeting report I mentioned earlier.
For around a year I have been in a freedom of information dispute with BHRUT seeking they publish death rates on a monthly basis at King George and Queens with a view to discovering if there is a link between worse death rates at Queens due to it being more over crowded than King George. The issue is still outstanding, This information is important because research suggests Queens may have a worse death rate than King George and if this can be established then it will powerful evidence for extending King George Hospital.
How do we pay for a new wing needs to be discuused. To research this issue I have written to the Treasury seeking detailed financial information about taxes raised for the last six year in the BHRUT area. My expectation is the tax take will have risen over the last six years, but spending on our local NHS will not have risen proportionably so perhaps producing powerful evidence for extending King George.
The report before you states
.”BHRUT also recognises that a number of people currently access care in a hospital setting when there is no clinical need to do”
Well of course that is the case, when someone has a stroke or some other disabling illness it takes a while to adapt their home so they can leave hospital.
I request a Cllr propose this petition is sent to HSC rather than it be binned as the officer report advises..
