Juliet’s story:

I have been extremely grateful for the A and E department at the Whittington Hospital several times in the last few years, including one time when I had a very nasty foreign body in my eye (accident in Muswell Hill, on the 43 bus route), and another time when I tripped on a pavement on the Holloway Road and was in enormous pain after landing on on a hand and, as it turned out, cracking my wrist.

The accident happened on the Holloway Road, and I was able to get there, by bus, really quite quickly. The hospital was super and the treatment (and the follow-up, which went on some time) excellent. Had I had to go to, for example, the Royal Free, there would have been a lot of delays to start with and it would have been extremely difficult to get there.

We badly need an excellent facility such as this one in this very centralised and easy to reach neighbourhood. I cannot recommend it too highly and trust it will be possible to avert its potential destruction.

J’s story:

I am epileptic.

Once I had a very serious fit in which I was unconscious for half an hour, and an ambulance had to be called. On numerous other occasions I have had fits in which I was injured, needing a hospital trip.
I am hugely grateful that on all these occasions, there was a good A&E just a short distance away.

A trip to the Royal Free or the North Middlesex would have taken at least twice as long; the roads from Crouch End to the Royal Free are messy, while the North Middlesex is further yet.

I can well imagine the worry which this proposal brings to other people in this area, who may have serious or life-threatening conditions. Time matters in such cases.

G’s story:

I would like to add to this.

I am the one,who has to get my partner John to A&E,if anything happens when I am here. To have to go further than the Whittington would be awful.

As for my own last experience-I developed a terrible, painful rash,that spread like wildfire. After calling NHS Direct the second time in the middle of the night, the doctor I spoke to,suggested to go to A&E.

I was very unwell, but made it to the Whittington, any further would have been questionable. On arrival,several doctors did not know what was wrong. I was given several injections. Then I had to wait many hours,to see the Dermatology Consultant,who had to take a biopsy. It turned out to be Urticaria Vasculitis, cause unknown.

In a Polyclinic,I am sure,this could not have been dealt with. Then surely a transfer to hospital would have been necessary.

Chris’s story:

I very much support your efforts to keep the Whittington A & E open.

As a disabled person distance is an issue. I have had reasons to attend the Whittington with a broken foot, resulting from a fall. To have got somebody to drive me to the Royal Free for follow up and to help me once there would have been unthinkable. Cuts in patient transport, and the long waits to be collected and returned, mean that for disabled people a hospital vist for an injury could take a whole day or an overnight stay – much longer than for an able bodied person. I wonder how this represents the NHS living up to its legal duty under the DDA to promote the needs of disabled service users!

S’s story:

I have heard about the plans to close the Whittington A&E and am very concerned to say the least. As a mother with two young children the Whittington A&E has been an essential trip for middle of the night meningitis/high temperature scares where there really is no time to waste going through the frustrating motions of NHS direct and they usually tell you to go straight to A&E anyway.

If there is no A&E where is everyone to go? As a baby, my son was severely dehydrated following an illness and the staff at A&E were fantastic – the same when my daughter has a high temperature and she refused oral medication. We have been there many times at various times of day and night for various medical emergencies and I cannot imagine what life would be like if it was not there.

It is an essential service and there is no alternative close enough. It is a ridiculous decision made by men in suits who have no idea what it is to sit at A&E with a sick child – we need a local A&E and there is no way that closing it will not have an dangerous impact on those who really need treatment at any time of the day and night. As a mother, I need to know there is help if I need it, if my children are ill and it’s not a GP matter or it’s out of hours, which quite often these emergencies are after all children can’t choose when they are sick or need emergency help, but often it is at night when A&E is the only option as calling out a GP can take up to four hours and by then if it’s something as deadly as meningitis it could well be too late.

The Royal Free is already overloaded and the Middlesex is too far – the new medical centre in Park Road, must have cost millions and it is not even treating A&E patients. It’s crazy to close the Whittington A&E – have these people really considered the implications?

Somehow I doubt it!

Sheila’s story:

It would be appalling if the Whittington A&E were to close. My husband owes his life to it. In February 2003, already with a heart condition, he had breathing difficulties at home. I called an ambulance which arrived quickly and took him to the Whittington. Just as he arrived he suffered a cardiac arrest. It was touch and go while the emergency staff worked on him for sometime but thanks to them he lived and is now enjoying a busy , healthy life. If he had had to go to the Royal Free he would have died before reaching there. We must keep the Whittington A&E open.

Mrs L’s story:

I am very much opposed to the idea of closure not just because it is totally inappropriate/reckless, but because my family has benefited from the A and E on 2 separate occasions in the past.

On the first occasion, I was phoned by the school authorities that my daughter had a nasty fall/bump on the head and wasn’t feeling well.  I collected her from primary school & because it was a Friday afternoon, my doctor’s surgery was closed.  When her condition deteriorated in the evening, I had to rush her to Whittington’s A and E and they treated her. On a separate occasion, I also had to drive my husband there as well and they treated him.

These were 2 major emergencies that required urgent medical attention from an A & E that was accessible and in close proximity to where we lived ie Whittington.

If the government has the welfare, well being and general safety of the citizens of this country at heart, it would not ever consider such a dangerous idea. An A & E at Whittington is not a luxury but a desperate necessity.  I completely oppose the idea to close it down.

Robert’s story:

My 12-year-old son fell off his bike recently and broke his arm. We took him to The Whittington at about 8pm and were delighted to discover that there was a dedicated children’s A&E department – a much less forbidding environment for an injured child. The staff were exceptionally friendly and efficient and by 9.30 we’d been through triage, X-ray, consulation and plaster. Without fail, the staff were cheerful and happy to answer my son’s questions about what was happening. Six weeks later, after two visits to the Whittington’s excellent fracture clinic, he’s back on his bike.

Having this resource at the Archway is a massive reassurance to local people. Going from Muswell Hill to the Royal Free would be far more of a challenge. For a start, there’s not even a bus connection It’s also 4.5 miles instead of 2. We need an A&E at Archway.

Alison’s story:

Two personal experiences in the last year of Whittington A&E:

1       Last January I had a severe asthma attack at night – just made it to the A&E where they whisked me through oon arival and put me on oxygen, then treated me.  I might well not have got as far as the Royal Free as I couldn’t breathe.  Cannot fault the treatment I received (PS must confess I had not thought of Camidoc, just wanted treatment!).

2       Our son, in great pain and bleeding from the penis went to A&E and although he had to wait, was seen by a urologist and appointments made for CT scan and further consultation with the urologist.  This at the height of pressure from last cold spell’s falls etc. A&E was crammed – if closed, would another A&E wherever be able to cope?  I think not.

Please use my name if it helps and thank you so much from both of us.

Olivia’s story:

I feel very strongly about the threatened closure of A & E at Whittington. This is partly for all the reasons put forward by others – the ridiculousness of the Royal Free being able to cope with increased numbers, the journey time from places like Crouch End or Hornsey (even Highgate) and the nightmare of Pond Street and parking (not good even at Whittington but nothing like as bad as Pond Street). 

My other reason is that my father was a consultant at Whittington many years ago and the coronary care unit there is named after him (Montuschi Ward).  He would have said that an A & E is essential to a vibrant, living hospital that is at the heart of a community.
Without an A & E a general hospital becomes a large edifice with little connection to the people around it.

On a more personal note, when our daughter Susannah was suspected of having meningitis some years ago the service and care she received in A & E and then on the paediatric ward were second to none.

The hospital was part of my family life and childhood and later, when Walter and I moved from Kentish Town to Highgate, two of our three children were born there.  It feels really important to me that for all it’s shortcomings (and there are very few A & E departments in London that anyone would really choose to attend) Whittington A & E remains available to the people of this very mixed part of North London.