Why have NHS changed story over Blood testing at King George for under 7s?

Barking and Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge Clinical Commissioning Groups sent me the following earlier today

We’ve been looking into the blood tests for young children issue that you raised and are happy to clarify.

Firstly, the Trust has confirmed to us that any child aged 3 and over can have their blood tests carried out at King George Hospital, in the main phlebotomy area, if their parent/carer wishes. That hasn’t changed.

Queen’s Hospital has for some time offered a service for under 3s and children with learning difficulties, to have their blood tests at Queen's in a dedicated area by a specialist paediatric phlebotomist. These phlebotomists are specifically trained to deal with young children, to reduce stress and make the process as smooth and painless as possible, which you’ll appreciate is a good thing.

In September last year the Trust employed a second paediatric phlebotomist at Queen’s to expand that service to benefit more young patients. At that point the service was expanded to the under 5s, and in January this year, as part of a phased approach, expanded again to treat the under 7s.

That specialist service has never been offered at King George but the Trust is now looking into replicating that service at King George at some point later this year.

So, it seems the confusion was caused by posters about the specialist service at Queen’s being put up in King George. To clarify – children over 3 can be tested at King George, but under 3s, needing the specialist service, are seen at Queen’s. ENDs (my emphasis above)

While the statement is welcome, there appears a bias in favour of Queens because the statement appears to be saying that Queens has two paediatric phlebotomists, with none at King George. This must raise concerns about revealing an attitude about running services down at King George. Secondly, the NHS have changed their story. BHRUT was saying in the tweet below that "Those over the age of 7 are still able to have blood tests at King George" These 18 January tweets now appear to be deleted from the BHRUT twitter account.

Photoshoot outside Redbridge Clinical Commissioning Group, Becketts House, Ilford Hill on Thursday 28 January 2016 at 1pm.

Under 3s cannot have a blood test at King George Hospital, instead they have to go to Queens. For families closer to King George than Queens this means more time spent on transport than necessary leading to:

More pollution, traffic, and an increased risk of road accidents. Some parents will face more time off work which could bring a financial penalty.

Last week at a Redbridge Council meeting available here under public questions:

http://www2.redbridge.gov.uk/cms/the_council/public_meetings/council_and_cabinet_audio/cabinet_meeting_audio_12_jan.aspx

Councillor Mark Santos Cabinet Member for Health and Social Care announced he had spoken to BHRUT and they said they intended to provide blood testing for under 3s at King George. Since then BHRUT has not provided a statement about when the service will start. Until a written statement by BHRUT is produced with a firm date on it there must be a concern that the plan for blood testing at King George for the under 3 is an aspiration rather than a firm commitment.

The purpose of the photoshoot is to request the CCG to instruct BHRUT to provide a date when the service will start. The CCG meets on the 28th at 1:30pm.Please phone Andy on 07956 263088 before attending in case BHRUT decide to provide a date before the meeting starts, the photoshoot is at 1pm.

Save King George Hospital Meeting Redbridge Town Hall Midday Friday 22 January

The next meeting of the save King George Hospital campaign team will take place this Friday 22 January at Redbridge Town Hall at midday..

The decision of BHRUT to remove blood testing for under 7s from King George Hospital earlier this month without notifying Councillors will be discussed. This reduction of service is wrong because it will for

1. Will mean missing more time of work for some parents,
2. Missing more time from school for children,
3. Adding to congestion, pollution and risk of accidents

For those families closer to King George than Queens. The BHRUT twitter account account relies on the CQC as authority for the closure. It does no such thing it says the service needs improving, which is what BHRUT should have done instead of closing it.

Slowly reducing bold testing at King George will mean that the pathology lab on the King George Site can be closed in stages, rather than in go which would likely be more difficult for the Queens pathology lab to cope with.

Redbridge Clinical Commissioning Group who have the power to instruct BHRUT to start blood testing again for the under 7s meet in Ilford on the 28th January at 1:30pm. Perhaps there will be sufficient support for a photoshoot outside the meeting at 1:15pm asking for the return of under 7 blood testing to King George.

BHRUT have been offered a right of reply to be published on this site.

Why Inaccurate?

BHRUT have told their 2000 odd followers that the blog

http://savekinggeorgehospital.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/why-doh-need-to-honour-their-guarantee.html

is inaccurate. I have asked them to say why, with an offer to print what they say along with a retraction if I agree with them, nothing has come back. It is not fair for a large institution to say an article about it is inaccurate without providing evidence to say why. BHRUT should write explaining why they say the blog is in inaccurate or delete their tweet.

Why the DoH need to honour their guarantee to Redbridge

Below is the reply from Mr Hunt's office refusing to intervene to re-open the 24 acute beds cut by BHRUT from King George Hospital.

The second letter is from Ben Gummer MP to Jas Athwal  declining to overturn the decision to close King George Hospital A&E.

I have written to Ben Gummer the following:

Dear Mr Gummer

Please Honour your Guarantee to Redbridge Residents

Cllr Athwal has kindly given me your letter of 17 September where you refuse to intervene to stop the closure of King George A&E.

On 27 October the Department of Health issued a statement saying that Redbridge residents would not come to harm as a consequence of the plans to close KGH A&E. The article is here https://www.gov.uk/government/news/barking-havering-and-redbridge-university-hospitals-nhs-trust
The wording of the guarantee is:

"However, no changes will take place until the Care Quality Commission, which published its own report on local services today, has assured the Secretary of State that the services provided by Queen’s Hospital and other local health services are of a high standard."

So far this year 34 acute beds have been closed at King George and Queens Hospitals. The December BHRUT board papers show resident's have been put in harm's way as a consequence. Page board papers here  http://www.bhrhospitals.nhs.uk/about-us/trust-board-papers.htm show bed occupancy at
Queens Hospital at 94.67% getting close to the level at which Queens would have to be closed to ambulances until the bed occupancy improved. A&E four hour waiting times have risen as a consequence to 90.23%. There is a lot evidence linking waiting times and high bed occupancy to poor patient outcomes including an increase in death rates. An example is at
http://www.nhsimas.nhs.uk/ist/how-to-stabilise-emergency-care-in-england/

"We know that speed of treatment is vital in many conditions. For example, people with the most severe form of pneumonia have less than a one in two chance of surviving. Those chances improve considerably if effective treatment is started early.  However, research suggests that delays of more than four hours in administration of antibiotics to patients coming into hospital with pneumonia can affect 70 per cent of patients on days when an A&E is crowded. (Pine JM et al, 2005)This undoubtedly affects mortality."


One of the drivers behind the bed closures is the need to make room at King George Hospital for community beds from other units being closed. This is part of the plan to close King George Hospital A&E at page 63 of the Health for north east London decision making business case.

Our local NHS is being harmed as a result of these bed cuts. I ask you to honour the guarantee given to Redbridge residents and to put the beds, doctors and nurses back into our hospitals.

Yours sincerely


Andy Walker
120 Blythswood Road IG3 8SG

Public Meeting Report Back

Thank you to everyone attending.

Charlotte Monro gave an inspirational speech on why whistleblowers are vital to the protection of our NHS. Bill Howe spoke on the difficulties of getting information from BHRUT. A discussion was had on to take the campaign forward and the next event will be posted up in due course.

The meeting agreed to write the following letter to Mr Hunt the Secretary of State for Health. I will put in the reply when I receive it,

Dear Mr Hunt

Request to help King George and Queens Hospitals

On 27 October 2011 plans were passed by Andrew Lansley, then Secretary of State for Health, to close King George Hospital A&E. The following guarantee was given that no residents would come to harm as a consequence of the closure:

"The Health Secretary today accepted a report by the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) on the Health for North East London clinical case for change, which includes the best future for Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust.

However, no changes will take place until the Care Quality Commission, which published its own report on local services today, has assured the Secretary of State that the services provided by Queen’s Hospital and other local health services are of a high standard." ENDs

This guarantee was broken earlier this year when 24 beds were removed from King George Hospital, a hospital that is in special measures rather than of a high standard. August key safety indicators at the King George and Queens Hospitals declined as a consequence. Beds have also been removed from Queens hospital, the second hospital which makes up our local trust which will also lead to a decline in care.

We ask you to honour the guarantee we were given and intervene to replace the beds, doctors and nurses that have been removed from our hospitals.

Fourth anniversary of A&E closure plan

Today is the fourth anniversary of the plan to close KGH A&E by the Andrew Lansley, then Secretary of State for Health. The A&E remains open, but acute beds have been closed at King George Hospital in breach of the guarantee given by Andrew Lansley that no changes were to take place  until the CQC found our services to be of a high standard.

Since 2011 care has got worse at Queens  and King George hospitals with both hospitals in special measures. The October board papers show beds being closed in August at Ash and Clover wards due to staff shortages. It is a  concern that the uncertainty about the A&E closure along with 32 acute  bed cuts in July of this year have been contributory factors to the decline in care shown in the October BHRUT board papers.

Earlier this year, Matthew Hopkins was reported in the Ilford Recorder saying that KGH A&E closure plans were to be produced within 9 months.

 The BHRUT board need to think again and abandon any closure plans. It is clear that with a growing population our hospitals need extra capacity rather than less which the closure of KGH A&E would mean.