Dear Councillors and MPs & GLA members
It was great that Cllrs Athwal and Berlin agreed to write a letter to Sajid Javid MP, the Secretary of State for Health, seeking that the 40 bed shortfall scandal at BHRUT be remedied at a Jewish Hustings last night.
The reports on next door are mixed, but they are enough to be very worrying about care standards at King George and Queens. Research shows long waits at A&E departments are linked to longer hospital stays and higher death rates.
So the sooner the letter goes to Sajid Javid the better. My view is a plea should be made for some of the NI increase monies to be given to hospitals like King George & Queens where staffing is such an issue that beds are being closed.
It seems the days when BHRUT staff could travel the world to find staff are now gone and NHS wages need to rise in a global market for health staff.
We do not know whether the situation has got worse or improved since Mr Trainer’s report to the board. Bob Archer, one of the speakers at our meeting on the 9th April wrote to BHRUT and got a prompt, but uninformative response, to his enquiry about this.
I hope other elected representatives also write to Mr Javid seeking help and send a message to the new wing for King George meeting this Saturday.
There is a message of support from NELSON (NE London Save our NHS), a long standing cross party campaign group below.
Regards
Andy
Nelson Statement
Members of NELSON (an alliance of NHS campaign groups across North East London) are concerned by Matthew Trainer’s comments at the March BHRUT board meeting that:
A) BHRUT has funding for 40 beds, but due to an inability to find staff they cannot be opened.
B) Quality of care is suffering due to these 40 beds being closed, in particular, stroke care is declining and A&E waits are longer than they should be
C) It should be noted that Mr Trainer says that even if all 40 beds were opened, type 1 A&E 4 hour waits would only move from being in the 20% range to the 30% range, well below the 95% safety benchmark. This is evidence of a substantial capacity deficit at BHRUT.
We call on
1) The government to increase staff pay nationally as a matter of urgency, to help attract and retain staff to BHRUT.
2) The BHRUT board to go back to monthly meetings (these are now bi-monthly) to enable the public and elected representatives to monitor the situation effectively.
3) Call on NE London MPs and GLA members to support the campaigns for more beds at the new Whipps Cross Hospital and a new wing at King George Hospital.
Two Next Door comments below, one positive and one negative, I regret to report that there are more negative than positive ones. This is to be expected with some of the worst A&E type 1 waits in England.
A positive review
“I was also there last night with my little boy, who felt so unwell he couldn't stand and was sitting on the floor in the queue. However, as soon as we triaged and sent to A&E they acted very quickly and started treatment within minutes of us walking into children's A&E.”
Sorry for your experience and my experience was similar. It was sad to see babies and children so I'll but being told they'd have to wait 5-6hrs. For what? So the company could make a profit? At one point *one* GP was seeing patients as well as doing the triage! While there were unwell children and a lady on so much pain she was quietly crying in the corner. Why was the UTC so under-resourced? Is profit so important? Over people's suffering?
