| The NHS has dropped out the news, mainly due to Brexit, but out of the spotlight our NHS staff have once again been struggling to cope this winter. Ealing Hospital and its hard working staff have been working their socks off to cope with massive demand. Without Ealing’s A&E and beds there could well be some fatalities. Maybe the penny is beginning to drop, at least with national NHS bosses, that bed numbers can’t be cut for the foreseeable future. It’s time they did something about this in North West London! – Please read on to see what’s been happening. |
| Ealing Hospital shows why it’s needed as ambulances diverted |
| In the last month or so, the number of ambulances arriving at both Ealing and Northwick Park Hospitals, have exceeded safe levels. Some days Ealing Hospital has had 71 ambulances instead of the planned maximum of 45, and similarly Northwick Park (NWP), which plans for a maximum of 90, instead had 142 ambulances. As all the beds fill up at NWP, patients and ambulances are diverted to Ealing and vice versa. No doubt the picture is very similar for Charing Cross too. |
| Two extra wards at Ealing Hospital have been opened and an extra ward at Central Middlesex to help Northwick Park. Unfortunately as beds fill up there is a knock on effect on the rest of the Hospital so they have to cancel elective operations. |
| It’s just as well ‘Shaping a Healthy Future’ plans have not been fully implemented otherwise Ealing’s A&E and beds would be closed! There is no evidence that the need for beds at Ealing Hospital will decline any time soon. The beds are being filled by seriously ill people arriving by ambulance. No amount of care in the community could substitute for this and that’s why we need to keep on campaigning. |
| ESON Campaign Meeting – Tuesday 19th February: |
| Colin Standfield, local NHS researcher, is our Guest Speaker and will be sharing his thoughts, figures and more on the ‘Shaping a Healthy Future’ plans to downgrade Ealing Hospital. |
| We will also be discussing implementing our campaigning priorities (ideas welcome); the latest news on Ealing Hospital and the Out of Hospital Single Contract (community health services). It would be lovely to see some new faces. |
| 7.30pm in Northfields Community Centre (tea & coffee provided) |
| Next Street Stall – Sat 23rd February – Southall: |
| Our next Street Stall will be on 23rd Feb opposite Southall Town Hall from 12.00 – 2.00pm (but we may finish a bit earlier). There will be plenty of leaflets and we will getting signatures for our recently launched Petition which calls for the ‘Shaping a Healthy Future’ plans to be abandoned, to fully fund and staff Ealing Hospital as a District General Hospital and re-open Maternity and Childrens Services. |
Sign and share our petition
| Save Royal Brompton – please sign the petition: |
| NHS England has decided to stop commissioning children’s heart services from the Royal Brompton. The hospital has now given up on retaining the Fulham Road site and is planning to transfer all of its services to a site at St Thomas Hospital, funded by selling off its very valuable site (more NHS asset stripping). The move would be a big blow for patients across North West London. More details and link to petition– |
| Some serious cuts on the way in Hammersmith & Fulham: |
| Big cuts could be on the way, according to campaigners, Save Our Hospitals (Charing X & Hammersmith). Local NHS bosses, Hammersmith & Fulham CCG, are planning to make upwards of £37 million worth of cuts by the end of 2019/20. This figure could increase by another £11 million if H&F have to bear the brunt of the cost of funding ‘GP at Hand’, the digital GP service based in Fulham, who now have 44,000 patients, mostly from outside the area. |
| Some of the cuts include: – reducing opening hours at Hammersmith Hospital Urgent Care Centre (the A&E was closed in 2014); cutting palliative care beds (end of life care) and reducing out of hours GP services – potentially 100’s of GP appointments being cut. More cuts are likely, including at Charing Cross & other hospitals, but North West London NHS bosses are being at best, vague at present. Save Our Hospitals intends to vigorously challenge any cuts and will keep us informed. |
