Forum Topic

A&E closures

Deeply disappointing outcome from a flawed consultation : http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-20529002The results of a public consultation on the closure of four hospital accident and emergency units in north-west London have been released.The findings show support for ending services at Charing Cross, Central Middlesex, Hammersmith and Ealing.

Chris Hurley ● 5039d8 Comments

But very limited supportAnd it leaves people in Acton Central with NO access to an A & E for literally miles. And virtually none at all if you don't have a car or money for a taxi.I wonder what the response (if any) will be from our MP and councillers.

Sara Nathan ● 5039d

I for one think this is an absolute disgrace! We have many more people living in the area so it makes no sense whatsoever to close all the A&E departments which are within easy reach.It will indeed be interesting to see what our MP's intend to do about this ridiculous situation.It would appear that this exercise is all about saving money and nothing to do with saving lives!

Jean F Fernandez ● 5039d

Exactly Jean. It is disgraceful.

Chris Hurley ● 5039d

I responded, as I suspect did many others, by stating I didn't agree with any of the options - how was my response recorded? The presentation of the results seems very limited and tailored to give the impression that the public agree with the pre-determined conclusions. We need full disclosure of how the responses have been analysed. FoI request anyone?

Vlod Barchuk ● 5039d

We live in a "Democracy"?The overwhelming majority of citizens are very vociferous and don't want these closures, and have communicated such to "The Powers That Be". In no uncertain terms.However the closures go ahead regardless.More like Communism I think.

Rosco White ● 5039d

Looking at the detail of results made available things are not so clear cut. The borough analysis indicates that people supported options that kept hospitals in their area open but opposed those that would close them, hardly surprising. Chelsea and Westminster Hospital ran a massive campaign to keep their hospital which boosted the numbers supporting Option A, which would close Ealing Hospital. So this doesn't really seem to get us anywhere.

Vlod Barchuk ● 5038d

What happened to the petitions with 70,000 signatures I wonder? Were they taken into account at all?

Chris Hurley ● 5038d

Only the 20,000 responses taken into account - and were those analysed by area? I bet not.And 20,000 not a huge proportion of the several million affected.I would like to know how the Vlod response was measured - the libdems also advised that approach.But did it mean they just weren't counted or that the electorate found that too sophisticated an arguement and didnt deploy it in numbers?What - if anything - is Angie proposing to do Vlod?

Sara Nathan ● 5038d