"Official. It is confirmed. King George Accident and Emergency will not be closed. Just got very welcome answer from Health Minister Stephen Hammond. It is now time to stop the scaremongering and concentrate on campaigning for improving and integrating services."
I wrote to Mike on twitter to say
"this appears very good news. Can you expand upon this Mike, ie is this a type 1 guarantee to be confirmed in ongoing review started in 11.17 & the clinical services strategy work happening now?"
As yet Mike has not replied.
As well as the qualifications I sought from Mike regarding type 1, we also need Matt Hancock MP, the Secretary of State for Health to revoke the 2011 decision to close the type 1 A&E unit at King George. Why this is important is shown at page 10 of the 2018 failed bid document HERE to close the type 1 King George A&E and replace it with a type 2 unit.
Para 4 states "it is the Trust's view that the project would not warrant further public consultation, provided that any development of services at KGH is not fundamentally different is not fundamentally different from that envisaged in HfNEL.."
"HfNEL" means the 2011 closure decision, so as long as the 2011 decision stays in force, a downgrade of the A&E at King George A&E to a type 2 facility for the elderly is still an option.
Earlier today, I looked at the East London Health Care Partnership (ELHCP) site today and the option of KGH being a centre of excellence for the elderly without a type 1 unit is still being listed per the following:
"Current options for change
Queen’s Hospital
Queen’s Hospital has one of the busiest and largest emergency departments in England, and so development at Queen’s will be focused on emergency and acute medicine, emergency surgery and acute children’s services. In addition, maternity facilities could also be expanded and developed to manage the continued growth in the number of births in north east London. To facilitate this development, the renal unit at Queens could be moved to the new St. George’s hub with non-acute care of older people, and some elective surgical services moved to King George Hospital.
King George We aspire to develop a new centre of excellence for healthy ageing, working in collaboration with community care, primary care and social services to offer a fully integrated model of healthcare for older people. Centralising planned care will increase the use of beds and theatres. These changes, together with the adjacent Goodmayes Hospital site, create a strategic opportunity to develop a coherent masterplan for housing, education, community and primary health care, maximising land value across the two hospital sites." ENDs
The full plan is at
https://www.eastlondonhcp.nhs.uk/downloads/ourplans/estates/STRATEGIC_ESTATES_PLAN_summary.pdf
So far neither BHRUT nor the ELHCP have put anything up about Health Minister Stephen Hammond's statement, perhaps they will tomorrow.
What we do know is that until Matt Hancock MP gets up in Parliament and revokes the 2011 decision to close King George A&E as a type 1 unit, then the campaign to save our A&E must continue.
Matt Hancock did this for two West London A&Es HERE it would be great if he could do this for King George A&E this week.
And let's hope Mike Gapes can provide more information shortly.
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