Forum Topic

Charing Cross A&E

Miss Huq is demonstrating today protesting against the closure of the A&E there. What doesn't seem to be clear is that Labour have no intention of reopening that A&E if they gain power next year. Miss Huq can of course correct me if I am wrong. If she could also tell us what has happened to the £250 million additional funding from Central Government I would appreciate it. I am asking her because no prospective MP would join a demonstration without all the facts.

Maire Lowe ● 4430d12 Comments

Apparently the word CHANGE is mentioned in information leaflets due to be distributed to residents rather than telling the truth! Obviously the word CHANGE sounds better than actually informing residents that they really mean CLOSURE of local A&E Departments.With an ever increasing local population and problems getting to see a GP witbout waiting for days all I can say is Heaven help us after 10 September  when the full picture will be revealed.

Jean F Fernandez ● 4430d

Its not just the A&E that is closing  but the whole hospital http://www.andyslaughter.co.uk/devastating_news_for_local_health_service_as_a_e_closures_and_charing_cross_demolition_get_go_ahead

Chris Hurley ● 4430d

Just to add to the confusion apparently Ealing Hospital A&E is also scheduled to close in December this year.Is this the NHS way of reducing the population?I think the plan is to sell off the land at the expense of the patients.

Jean F Fernandez ● 4429d

Is this the NHS way of reducing the population?It will be if we end up at Northwick Pk., or The Brentford Workhouse Infirmary.  How will West Mid cope if they have >400 beds, and I assume to cover Chiswick, Brentford and Hounslow.  If St Mary's is at full stretch, where will we go?How many hospitals will there be that will take Blue Light?How many people will die?

Nikki Howard ● 4429d

This is all very worrying. Reading the big Labour statement on the NHS the other day, it seems that these changes to the NHS in West London would also happen if we had a Labour Administration. They have no intention of reversing any changes if they win the next election. I'm willing to be corrected by anyone who knows differently.

Maire Lowe ● 4429d

I don't know any differently, but clearly reversing the closure of an A&E department and demolition of a hospital is not cheap.  It's one thing to oppose a policy but reversing it isn't always straightforward.  Better to focus on preventing the closures than reversing them, surely?

Ben Smith ● 4429d

Instead of using this as a weapon to attack Labour for something that may or not happen in the future, perhaps the Tories could explain how exactly this closure can be justified in any way, shape or form in the here and now.

Anne Brown ● 4429d

I would like to know how ANY party can justify the closure of vital A&E Departments in West London, a highly populated area.Also how can they justify the loss of hundreds of hospital beds when the land is sold off for redevelopment?No wonder the NHS is losing money when a nurse covering a Bank Holiday shift was paid a whopping £1,800 for one shift. Another trust paid £2,500 for a locum doctor to work the same day!This is no way to run any organisation. I have heard of nurses resigning and then joining an agency to to exactly the same job but for a much higher salary.As friends were discussing the other evening,  we can forsee thay in the not too distant future there will be no such thing as the NHS free for all who need it.

Jean F Fernandez ● 4429d

The explanations are in the public domain Anne. I think you know that. You will also know that local Conservatives campaign against the closures and continue to lobby the NHS, the department of Health and the Secretary of State. What I am  saying is that I hear from my NHS contacts that Labour have no plans to oppose the closures and wouldn't reverse them if they had the chance. I just wanted Me Huq to clarify the Labour position if she knows it.

Maire Lowe ● 4429d

The Conservative-led government has driven through an expensive and unpopular NHS and hospital reform programme for which it did not seek a mandate (indeed, in 2010 the Tories specifically said they opposed further NHS reorganisation).It is surely clear to anyone with open eyes that Mr Hunt is engaged in a sprint to force through these changes, in West London and elsewhere, ahead of the 2015 general election - precisely to ensure that the changes couldn't be undone by an incoming Labour government, or would be reversed only at further, disproportionate cost. That's why Hunt has said that local facilities are to close within weeks, long before the services to replace them have been put in place.It's surely obvious that a Labour government's decisions on hospital provision in our area must needs be determined by the overall situation it inherits. Mapping out overall healthcare provision is enormously complex, and no sensible politician is going to issue blank cheques* when we don't know even if sites will be still standing.(* note to younger readers: a cheque was a bit of paper with which people transferred money in the olden days - another figure of speech I won't be able to use soon!)

Steve Donnelly ● 4428d

Just like John Major forced through a botched BR privatisation ahead of an election.I would be interested to know how Maire would propose reversing the closure of a Charing X once it's been demolished and half the site sold off?

Ben Smith ● 4428d

Steve and Nick thank you both for setting out your arguments so eloquently. Like everyone in West London whatever their politics I am worried about what will happen to my friends and neighbours if we have a real medical emergency. The poster close to my house tells me about the 24 hours service if my need is not urgent but apart from a telephone number it is silent on what will happen if one of us is dying.So far I think we agree.What you don't say and neither does anyone on the Labour side anymore is that the NHS reform was begun by the previous Labour Government and only continued by the present Government.  Labour called it the reform the Nicholson challenge did they not?  It was intended to take £10 billion out of Health Care spend.  Do correct me if I am wrong. Now that we know what a possible Labour Government might do if it wins power next year, we notice no plans at all for altering or even slowing down the effects of the Nicholson challenge. Isn't it reasonable to acknowledge this. The focus of a future Labour Government seems to be on who controls the health services not their quality or their effectiveness or where they are placed. I'd really like to see the plan for West London and I'd like to know for sure whether it is better for our health that emergency services are concentrated in fewer larger units even if they are further from our homes. Different 'experts' say different things. For all of us it is vital that we have the correct answers. I'd also like to know how the NHS is spending the additional £250 million earmarked for West London London. I don't know what to say about British Rail except that it was privatised a long time ago and that Labour had fourteen years to take back back some of the contacts with individual companies as they came up. Did the Blair administration ever even consider the idea?I am really concerned at what might happen if we put Len McClusky in charge of the NHS. Or anything. I am old enough to remember cheques but also to remember the three day week.

Maire Lowe ● 4427d