Save King George Hospital

Proposals to close vital services at Redbridge’s only hospital, King George, were approved at a meeting of the North East London Primary Care Trusts on 15 December 2010. Among the proposals passed, are those which will mean that there will be no Accident and Emergency [A+E] service and no maternity service provided at King George. Only around 50 beds will be left instead of the present 400.

What this means for residents of Redbridge
If these proposals are implemented, it means that most people who live in Redbridge will have to go to Queen’s Hospital in Romford.

• Much longer travel times to get to a hospital – especially important for ambulances to get to A+E. Queens Romford is 4 ½ miles from King George in Goodmayes along the A12, the worst A road in Britain.
• Queens will serve the populations of 3 London Boroughs, Redbridge, Barking and Dagenham and Havering - 700,000 people. Meanwhile the inner London hospitals in Newham, Tower Hamlets and Hackney will each serve one borough, with an average of just over 200,000 people in the borough. Waltham Forest will be served by Whipps Cross Hospital.
• Queens is already unable to cope, frequently turning ambulances away because they are full. This happened for 2 weeks in December. When asked where they ambulances should go, the Interim Chief Executive of Redbridge Hospitals said: “I don’t know.”
• No baby will be born in a Redbridge hospital, while over 10,000 babies will be born at Queens in Romford. This means that the maternity ward there will be very large by national standards. Meanwhile, Barking has a had a new maternity unit built.
• In March 2011 Queen’s maternity unit was inspected by the independent panel which monitors whether hospitals are meeting the essential standards of quality and safety, called the Quality Care Commission [CQC]. The CQC statement states: “Inspectors found that the maternity unit was often understaffed and that some staff were carrying out tasks for which they did not feel appropriately skilled, putting women and babies at risk. ... Some equipment necessary for the safe care of women and their babies, such as machines for monitoring contractions, was found to be unavailable, poorly maintained or not working. .... CQC says the trust must fully address the first two of these issues by 30 March and address the equipment problems by 15 April. If the Trust fails to comply, our next steps may include prosecution or restriction of services.”
• 16 March the CQC issues a statement about Whipps Cross Hospital: “The CQC has told Whipps Cross University Hospital NHS Trust that the care it provides was not meeting the essential standards of safety and quality people should be able to expect. .....it’s inspectors will follow up to ensure those improvements are made...... Staffing: Community [maternity] staff were found to be either working excessive hours or had unsustainable caseloads in their attempts to balance all demands on the service.”

The cost of implementing the proposals will be £36 million but Health4NEL have stated that they will not get this money from the Government. Instead they will raise it from the “local economy” saying that this may possibly be from more Public Finance Initiatives [PFIs] and selling assets. With lack of critical mass, King George Hospital will become a likely target, as well as Wanstead Hospital.

Residents of Redbridge are being asked to sign the Redbridge Campaign to Save King George petition: our councillors of all parties will act as collection points for petition forms. When all the sheets have been collected, local MPs will present the petition to the Secretary for Health, Andrew Lansley in the House of Commons.

The Independent Review Panel is asking for evidence and/or experience from all interested parties to be provided by 21 July 2011. The Panel’s contact details are: 157-159 Buckingham Palace Road, LONDON SW1W 9SP: info@irpanel.org.uk: 020 7389 8046.

For further information, please email either Helen Zammett or Geoff Horsnell.