Tag Archives: nhs

Whittington A&E update

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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.

Whittington A&E – not me mate!

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So – I table a series of written questions in Parliament on thefuture of  the Whittington and the decisions around it:

Lynne Featherstone: (Hornsey & Wood Green)

‘To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether all of the proposals made to the North Central London Service and Organisation Review include the Whittington Hopsital, have a (a) 24 hour accident and emergency unit and (b) full intensive care unit,; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope (Minster answering for the Government)

This is a matter for the local National Health Service

 

Lynne Featherstone: (Hornsey & Wood Green)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what targets have been set in relation to the savings to be made as a consequence of the North Central London Service and Organisational Review; and if he will make a statement

 

Phil Hope (Minister answering for the Government)

This is a matter for the local National Health Service

 

Lynne Featherstone (Hornsey & Wood Green)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what timetable has been set for the public consultation on the North Central London Service and Organisational Review; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope (minster answering for the Government

This is a matter for the local National Health Service

So – I’m seeing a bit of a pattern here!

The only time you can get any traction on any of this with any formal accountability – is when the proposals come forward the local scrutiny committee at the Council refers the decision to the Secretary of State. A bit late on in the process doncha think?

So – it is down to we the people – to scare them off!

We will see in January where the ‘local National Health Sevice thinking is going. Hopefully the size of the petitions and local peoples’ anger will make them see sense – otherwise it’s revolution!

The Whittington – on the sick list?

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Whittington Hospital protestHere’s my latest Ham & High column:

The world works in mysterious ways. If I hadn’t broken a bone in my foot a couple of weeks ago – I might not have heard what was being planned for the future of the Whittington in such a timely fashion.

The position put out by Rachel Tyndall (CEO for North London Central NHS) in a letter to senior NHS managers was that the Whittington would lose its Accident & Emergency services.

But after the letter was publicised, the situation abruptly changed. A revised letter was sent out in which options for the future of the Whittington designate it a ‘local hospital’. That is a very comforting sounding phrase – but it would still mean an end to 24 hour A&E cover.

The rapidity with which the original proposals to end all A&E were dropped does make me doubt how well thought out they were – and also whether they have really been abandoned fully or are still lurking waiting for a chance to come back.

So I have sent out emails and letters to inform local people what was going on, with the background on the threats to close or reduce the A&E services at the Whittington Hospital. You can sign the petition yourself at http://campaigns.libdems.org.uk/saveouraande

The responses are pouring in at a volume I have actually never seen before, with over 1,000 signatures in the first 48 hours. It is already quite clear that local people don’t want to lose their local A&E nor see it reduced – nor do they feel the NHS has been  communicating well or fully on the subject.

In the background to all this are talks about merging Royal Free and The Whittington – either completely or some of the services. The principle of raising the quality of health services by providing them via the best means available is a good one – and it may be that some services are best provided through only one or the other of these two hospitals. But A&E is one of the services that needs to be local and 24 hours – that’s the point.

As one constituent wrote to me, who works elsewhere in the NHS themselves, said of the Whittington, it “exists to provide a local and emergency service and is at risk of having its lifeblood sucked away”.

I have held meetings in the last week with the key people at both the London North Central Review Panel and the Whittington. Whilst all the NHS senior people are saying no decisions have been made, that original letter with its set of proposals – all of which meant closing the Whittington’s A&E – make it clear which way thoughts are running on the issue.

Although there are promises to bring the issue to public consultation, consultation has to be over a meaningful range of options – not a set that already assumes a key decision. With the consultation pencilled in for September 2010 – after the next elections please note – there is a whiff in the air of putting controversial decisions off until after the votes with the ability to then push them through with the public voice neutered.

That is why it is so important that local peoples’ views are heard loud and clear NOW. Otherwise when the Health Authority ‘options’ finally come to public consultation – we may find that there are no options that keep the Whittington A&E open.

Adjournment Debate on Whittington A & E

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Jeremy Corbyn – MP for Islington North – managed to get an adjournment debate last night on the future of the Whittington – and he very kindly let me speak. For him and I, the most affected constituencies, we are joining forces to ensure that NHS health bosses get the message loud and clear BEFORE decisions are made – that local people are madder than hell at even the suggestion of closure or reduction.

Interestingly, and I will look at Hansard later today, the Minister seemed pretty ticked off with the North London sector and the PCTs and the way they have gone about this. So – hopefully – between an ear-wigging from the minister and the wrath of the local people and MPs we will frighten them off.

They now speak in whispers about how nothing is decided and they are just looking at options. Don’t be fooled – it is quite clear to me that was an option they were considering and without a public rumpus – they would have continued sweetly on that path!

Whittington – it just gets worse………..

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Rumours are emerging that the planned merger of the Whittington and Royal Free Hospitals will not be enough to satisfy NHS bosses and that there may instead be a forced marriage between the Whittington, Royal Free and UCLH Hospitals.

This raises interesting questions, because UCLH is a Foundation Trust. I believe this may mean that the proposed ‘merger’ will be nothing of the sort, but will instead be a take-over by UCLH of the other two hospitals – a wonderful Xmas present for UCLH, which has been dreaming of this for years…. This disaster just goes on and on….”

Meanwhile, lots of denials by NHS bosses about intentions to close or reduce A&E departments at the Whittington and North Mid.

Having now been in elected politics for over ten years – one thing I am sure of – when there are budget cuts demanded and letters showing closure sent out and then denied – is that the sooner and the louder that local people let their views be known the better!

Otherwise – heaven forfend – we could find that none of the options that come to public consultation next September contain anything that bears any relationship to what local people actually want!

The Whittington – who is making the decisions?

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I think the Government speaks with forked tongue!

Here is the parliamentary question that I put down for written answer last week – and the answer itself.

Lynne Featherstone (Hornsey & Wood Green, Liberal Democrat)

To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether all of the proposals made to the North Central London Service and Organisation Review include the Whittington Hospital, Islington, having a (a) 24 hour accident and emergency unit and (b) full intensive care unit; and if he will make a statement.

Phil Hope (Minister of State (the East Midlands), Regional Affairs; Corby, Labour)

This is a matter for the local national health service.

So why, if this is a local matter for the local national health service, have both the CEO of the Whittington, Rob Larkman and Rachel Tyndall (in charge of London North Central Strategic Health Authority), been summoned to see the Secretary of State for Health early next week?

Over a thousand residents sign local MP's save A&E petition in 48 hours

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Local residents’ outrage at plans to close the Accident and Emergency (A&E) services at the Whittington and the North Middlesex hospitals has today been made clear after Liberal Democrat petitions against cuts got over a thousand signatures in the first 48 days.

Hornsey and Wood Green MP Lynne Featherstone and Health Spokesperson Cllr Nigel Scott launched the petitions on the 23rd November, after a leaked letter from Islington NHS boss Rachel Tyndall showed that there were plans to possibly close the A&E department at both the Whittington and the North Middlesex Hospital.

Local residents who want to sign the Whittington petition should go to http://bit.ly/SaveOurAandE and residents who want to sign the North MIddlesex petition should go to http://bit.ly/northmid.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“It’s overwhelming and really powerful to see the petition signatures pouring in. It’s clear that local people will not accept cuts or closures of emergency services at our closest hospitals- and neither will I!

“This sends a message loud and clear and I will make sure that local health bosses have no illusions to the contrary when I present the petition – hands off our A&E!”

Cllr Nigel Scott adds:

“Residents need to have a real say when it comes to the future of their nearest emergency service.

“It can literally be a question of life and death and that’s why it’s so important that local residents show how they feel about this now. Please take a minute to sign the petition – it will really make a difference.”

Whittington and North Mid petitions – huge response!

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I sent out an email to my email list to inform local people (hard copy will follow more widely) of the threat to close or reduce services at the Whittington A & E and about the threat to the North Middlesex A & E too. Both contain petitions for people to sign up to: The Whittington petition is here and the North Mid petition is at http://bit.ly/northmid.

The responses are pouring in. In the first 24 hours, since yesterday afternoon, 745 people have already signed the Whittington petition and 89 the North Mid.

It is already quite clear that local people don’t want to lose their local A & E nor see it reduced. That is why it is so important that local peoples’ views are heard loud and clear NOW. Otherwise when the Health Authority ‘options’ finally come to public consultation – we may find that there are no options that keep the Whittington A & E open and that in reality the decisions have actually been made. That goes for the North Mid too.

I support improved clinical outcomes, obviously, and there are lots of health services that may be better provided by one or other hospital. But A & E is one of the services that needs to be local and 24 hours – that’s the point.

As one constituent wrote to me who works at one of the hospitals (not the Whittington) ‘there is no more logic to an   A & E unit at University College Hospital than the others.  Medical staff will adapt to what is decided.  UCH and RFH could easily become even more specialist than they already are and would flourish without an A & E.  The Whittington on the contrary exists to provide a local and emergency service and is at risk of having its lifeblood sucked away’.

Couldn’t have put it better myself!

Cock-up, conspiracy or incompetence?

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Lynne Featherstone, Cllr Martin Newton and London Assembly Member, Caroline PidgeonHere’s my latest column for the Muswell Hill Flyer and Highgate Handbook:

Finally I managed to get Transport for London (TfL), Haringey Primary Care Trust (part of the NHS) and me together in the same place to bang heads together about the need for better bus links to the new Community Health Centre on the old Hornsey Central Hospital site.

We have this wonderful new facility but, despite the transport issues being raised as a key issue at every public and private meeting (literally for years) by many people, nothing has been properly planned, delivered – or even promised for the future.

And of course now the new Health Centre is here – and operational – but not a new bus in sight. Loads of people joined in my campaign for a new bus to enable them to access the new centre when referred there from wherever they live in Highgate, Crouch End, Muswell Hill, Fortis Green or Alexandra wards by their own GP.

Imagine my shock when TfL said they had no idea that there were services were already being provided (with lots more to come) which would bring people from all over the west of Hornsey & Wood Green to the new facility. TfL seemed to be under the illusion that the only thing happening was that two GP practices had moved in and only they would need transport.

To be honest – I couldn’t believe it!

Given the promises on transport, the supposed discussions on transport – to be sitting there listening to the two key agencies basically saying that there was such a gap in communication that TfL didn’t know that there was an ongoing and expanding need for access to the site from provision of new services on the site was truly shocking.

From this ‘discovery’ TfL have now agreed to take away the issue and look at it properly. At least they now both seem to understand there is a problem with providing a major new health facility with no extra transport provision.

I have been contacted by many local people on the back of our campaign giving examples of problems they have encountered. One example is a team who have already moved into the new facility and whose clients will commonly have reduced mobility – albeit still very capable of getting on a bus if it can deliver them near to the health centre – are concerned about how their patients will get to them.

Another example is that of one local health worker who has contact with people with very differing needs in the borough who wrote to me to say that a number of people she is in contact with through her work have mentioned their concerns about the lack of usable transport links to the new site.

I don’t know what on earth has been going on – but you can bet my language to both the Chair of Haringey PCT and Peter Hendy (Commissioner of Transport in London) will be pretty strong as I bring this smartly to their attention.

Clearly this is a mess – and I just hope that both Haringey PCT and TfL sort it out now they have acknowledged that they haven’t even been looking at the right problem.

The Whittington is not safe in their hands

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I was shocked by the leaked letter (see my earlier post) that showed the Whittington would lose it’s A & E department under all four options being put forward for the reorganisation of health services in what is called London North Central (LNC) Sector of the Strategic Health Authority (Islington, Camden, Barnet, Enfield and Haringey).

I had not been reassured by the hasty press release by LNC saying that the first letter had been confusing and re-issuing a version which changed the Whittington’s fate to being designated a ‘local hospital’ in the options rather than mentioning A& E at all.

‘Local Hospital’ if you look up its meaning on the Department of Health website means that A& E would be reduced to effectively ‘urgent care’ for between 8 and 16 hours per day with no emergency surgery on site. Given the level of need locally – the idea of people having to travel to the Royal Free which has appalling public transport access – does not seem to be designed with local people in mind at all.

Moreover, Haringey which doesn’t actually have a hospital, relies on both the Whittington and The North Middlesex for A & E – and the North Middlesex’ A & E is also under threat in one of the current four options.
Anyway – today I had urgent meetings with both LNC (Stephen Conroy) and the Chief Exec of the Whittington (Rob Larkman) – separately. In terms of LNC – Mr Conroy was very keen to emphasise that nothing was final, that options were still being discussed and drawn up, that no decisions had been taken – and that the options (whatever they ended up as) would go to the Review Panel in December and pre-consultation in January. To avoid the elections – the public consultation on the options would be in September 2010. So if the letter hadn’t been leaked – local people would not have had any say before the election.

The proposals are all around what should be provided where and which of UCH, The Royal Free, Barnet, North Midds, The Whittington and Chase Farm would become ‘major acute’ hospitals and which local.
When I pushed for assurance that the 24 hour A & E service at the Whittington would not be terminated – Mr Conroy could not and would not give that assurance.

I also asked him what autonomy and status the Whittington Board had in all of this. From his answer it is quite clear that whilst the Whittington Board’s opinions are important, they are considered ‘organisationally loyal’ and when looking at the bigger picture of service needs in the ‘sector’ it would be the LCN who would take the decisions.

We also pushed (I was accompanied by Cllr Nigel Scott, LibDem local health spokesperson and Ed Butcher, my Head of Office) for openness and transparency about the processes. We are concerned that by the time there is a wide public consultation (as I said – after the election) – the basic decisions will have been made. That first letter stating that the Whittington would have no A & E even though withdrawn – has left its mark – and I can’t help thinking that where there’s smoke….

It has also been pointed out to me that the Whittington sits on top value land – and that letting the hospital wither on the vine of ever reducing services might at some point enable land sales to a cash-strapped Strategic Health Authority – I hope not!

At the subsequent meeting at the Whittington Hospital, Rob Larkman (CEO) said that they had been shocked too by the letter stating that A & E would not be provided in any of the options and that it was his challenge on that letter that had forced LCN to put out the second letter.

In fact I think the Whittington Board may, to an extent, be an ally of local people in the fight to retain A & E and maternity and obstetrics. The Chair of the Board was also in attendance at this meeting and he said that the Board also fought for what the local community wanted and needed.

So to me, the crucial issues are not the labels that LNC may wish to give their new configurations of major acute, acute, local and so on – the key is still keeping important services like 24 hour A & E and maternity and obstetrics local at the Whittington – whatever the configuration.

I made it quite clear that I would, apart from keeping in close contact with what is happening, make sure that local people are kept informed about what is going on and about what I regard as a real threat to both the 24 hour A & E and the continued provision of maternity and obstetrics at the Whittington – and that I would be campaigning along with my Liberal Democrat colleagues in Haringey and Islington for what local people want and need.