Here’s my latest column for the Ham & High:
In the twelve years I have been a local politician, other than in the cases of Victoria Climbie and Baby P, I have not seen such a tidal wave of outrage as erupted when the news of the threat to the Whittington Hospital’s A&E was revealed.
The rate of sign up to the petition I launched to object to closure or reduction to the Whittington A&E service, outstripped by some distance, all of the petitions I have launched over that 12 years. (I will be presenting the petition in the next week or two so if you have not yet signed it online or on paper, please do so at http://bit.ly/whittington – and encourage others too).
Originally the person in charge of the NHS’s North London Sector sent out a letter to the Chief Executive Officers and the Medical Directors of all the hospitals involved about the options for future arrangements for A&E – all of which stated quite clearly that there would be no emergency take at the Whittington.
In the face of the public anger, the NHS has backed off, saying that ‘no decisions’ had yet been taken and that a range of options are being considered to delivery ‘better health services’ for local people. These new ‘options’ would be consulted on with local people next September – general and local elections safely out of the way!
That timing makes me suspicious – and all the more so after seeing a new document put out by North Central London NHS dated January 2010 and titled ‘Frequently Asked Questions’. Reading between the lines of the repeated emphasis given to how emergency cases can be handled via NHS Direct, local pharmacies and GPs, plus the reference to the most appropriate care not necessarily being the nearest, the document reads like a carefully worded preparation to cutting back on A&E after all – dressed up in warm words about other services.
Also lacking from the document is an appreciation of the human dimension of A&E and health care more generally. The judgements about what the “best” ways are of providing care should not just be technocratic accounting exercises in measuring ambulance journey times and counting the pennies.
They must also be about the ease – or not – for patients, their relatives and their friends in accessing the service and visiting someone taken in to hospital. High quality professional treatment is vital – and so too is the support of friends and family which helps recovery immensely. Distant services curtail that support and make for worse health care as a result.
So – at the moment we have something of a stand-off. The NHS has damaged its reputation by failing to be clear and open from day one but – for the moment – we have forestalled any damaged to our health services.
We need to keep up the pressure on both our local Haringey Primary Care Trust (PCT) and North Central London NHS – so their minds are focused on what local people want and not just what the powers that be say we should have.
Lynne Featherstone 
Dear Lynne
Thank you very much for campaigning with such vigour and careful attention to what isn’t being said as much as what is. And for communicating this to your consitituents in a way that is clear and concise. The prospect of losing my local A&E is alarming, not least because I am reliant on it to get me out of life-threatening incidents that regularly occur because of my severe mental illness. There are important issues of speed and also familiarity with my case, and I also have total trust in the staff who despite the complexities of my situation, always treat me with amazing care and expertise.
Best wishes
marion
I have signed the petition and would like to offer my support in any way possible to the campaign to stop the possible closure of the A&E unit at the Whittington Hospital. The Whittington hospital serves a huge area. People in this district need to know there is a local A& E hospital. My own granddaughter’s life was saved by the close proximity of this emergency unit a couple of years ago. Let me know what I can do!
I believe in immediate urgent access but the A&E has been frequently seriously lacking, yet last visit showed some improvement . On occasions has been manned by foreign students, with Nurses on remits as first assessors not following up on stroke symptons , when show more disease than normal [ found later] .They have not addressed the continuing care issues for chronic symptons when GPS refused antibiotics causing 3 weekly waits of 5 hrs for 2 years calling out police when i asked what did I do next time after taken away monitoring appointments. . They cannot expect support when behave like this causing health and safety risk with MPs ignoring issues & as for disabled parking …..?
The threat to our A&E’s in North London is frightening and bears no attention to the needs of the population.I would like a concerted effort from other MPs in the same way as you have approached this lynn. Chace farms A&E is due for closure, if you add the whittington to this and Ive heard rumours about North Midd where are we going to be treated in central london with the problems of access or barnet with chronic access and parking problems. We will have a wave of patients dying in ambulances waiting in traffic on the M25, North circular or A10.Its true that a&E’s are often swamped by innapropriate clients, many of whom dont have access to a gp, surely this is where the focus needs to be addressed. Am I being cynical or is this the strategic health authoritues way of meerting innaproptoiate targets set by ignorant piliticians who haev no reall understanding of medicine. I have seen first hand the increased pressure put on healthcare staff when wards are closed for efficiency savings. It results in many nurses spending hpours of their own unpaid time proping up the service and watching their own health and quality of life suffering. The health service is an easy target to hit to try and recoupe thirteen years of wasted resources pumped into vote winning schemes that have little merit save to safeguard an Mps seat. Micro managing isnt the role of parliament and neither is employing consultancies from abroad especially america to tell us how to run our heath service. If you want top make improvements ask any ward sister or nurse on the front line and they will tell you whats needed. This government is intent on destroying health as it has teaching, police and the military.They have little understanding of what front line service is about. We will now wait for the inevitable pay cuts or frozen pay rises while they keep thorwing money at the banks and their freinds in high places.Bring on the general election.
Steve – couldn’t agree more. I could weep at all the money that gets spent (and the energy and effort ) on restructuring and re-organisation – rather than the frontline.
The Whittington A&E cannot be allowed to close. Scythe off some of the overweight management tier instead!
how many do we already have, where are they and how many miles apart how long from an area to the nearest one. how long in time terms, would that make death more likely in transit. if thats the case. then to close it would be akin to corporate mansloughter. if however their are such places within a reasonable distance to most places then that is not the case.
I had to take someone to A&E today and apart from the usual wait, she had great attention and service. She was kept in for observation, when I’m sure that many A&E’s would have sent her home with tablets.
I had confidence with the staff, who were extremely nice and explained everything that was going on.
Whilst talking to the doctors, none of them seemed to have been there that long, but I hope that they will stay longer. How uncertain must this be for them?
10 years ago, the A&E at the Whittington was a shambles, but such a difference today. Why close an improving resource down.
Also, the new Maternity department is wonderful and I hear only positive feedback from there.
Ten years ago it was the same only it did not have fancy polished floors glass decore, shiny desks and counters . the improvements have been cosmetic have given managers and paper pushers a salary beyond their wildest dreams and left the public picking up the bill. no wonder they need to close they ripped off so much in fancy building works that nones left for medicine. but hey its the uk. whats new.