Central Middx and Northwick Park A&Es overwhelmed

Campaigners lobby Sarah Teather over the closures

The Evening Standard today reports that  Maeve O'Callaghan-Harrington, head of emergency planning at NW London Hospitals Trust, emailed local GPs  last week advising them that the casualty units at Northwick Park and Central Middlesex  were full. 

Northwick Park had 19 patients waiting for beds and patients were also waiting for beds at Central Middlesex. Central Middlesex A&E is already closed overnight and would be closed completely under the 'Shaping a Healthier Future' proposals. Central Middlesex A&E patients will be expected to go to Northwick Park instead and that is also where patients from the Urgent Care Centre would be transferred if the UCC cannot treat them.

The Standard reports Andy Burnham, shadow health secretary as commenting:

As this email shows London A&Es are struggling as it is and it is not at all clear how the Government can close so many without putting lives at risk. The planned closures in northwest London look drastic and the onus is on the NHS and the Government to provide clinical evidence for how they can be justified.

Local NHS campaigners have repeatedly drawn attention to the pressures on Northwick Park even before the closure of Central Middlesex A&E  and the absence of any kind of risk assessment on the possible repercussions for the safety of patients if the closure takes place.