Guest blog from local activist Sarah Cox on the Care Quality Commission's report LINK on the North West London Hospital s NHS Trust which includes Central Middlesex, Northwick Park and St Mark's hospitals.
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With only a few
weeks to go before the A & E at Central Middlesex closes for ever on
September 10th, this report raises grave concerns. Patients from the most
deprived areas of Brent which are served by Central Middlesex will be forced to
travel to the A & E at Northwick Park which is short staffed and
"requires improvement".
The report also
reveals that:
Patient flow through Northwick Park Hospital was having an impact on people waiting in A&E, and pressure on the critical care units was so great that some people were being discharged too early and subsequently readmitted.
Time and again
the Clinical Commissioning Group and the architects of the Shaping a Healthier
Future project under which these closures are being implemented, have assured
the community that, transformed into a Major Hospital in which all the services
for a wide area are concentrated, Northwick Park Hospital would provide better
services for patients. Time and again patients and community members who
are concerned for the NHS expressed our doubts. Judging by this report, we
were right to do so. The NW London Hospital Trust assured recent Overview and
Scrutiny meeting of Brent Council, that Northwick Park Hospital will be ready
to take on the extra patients when Central Middlesex A & E closes. Really?
This report is
also critical of Maternity services at Northwick Park:
CQC also identified that maternity services required improvement to ensure women received a safe and effective service. Maternity was rated as Inadequate for responsiveness, as women could not always summon the assistance they required and individual needs were not being met.
This is due to staff
shortages, yet under the SaHF proposals, Hammersmith and Ealing Hospitals will
lose their maternity services. Many patients who would have gone to Ealing
for maternity care will have to attend NPH in future. Will it be able to cope?
Overall,
Central Middlesex is rated good, but the report points out that many staff
there feel isolated from the rest of the trust. Over the last few years,
services have been transferred from CMH to NPH with staff often being
required to move at a few days' notice. Many staff have said that they much
prefer working at Central Middlesex, but are not given the choice.
Health campaigners
believe that the changes being imposed on our hospitals are driven by financial
considerations and the Government's policy of handing over our
NHS to private companies who will run services for profit not the needs of the
patients.
REPORT SUMMARY
