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Issue: 22 <\/b><\/p>\n
February 2015<\/b><\/p>\n
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This occasional newsletter is researched, written and edited by a group of concerned residents in Ealing, West London who want to preserve our NHS. We view the wholesale engagement of private, for-profit healthcare service suppliers as unnecessary, profligate and dangerous. Process improvement is what is needed in our NHS \u2013 not revolution.<\/span><\/p>\n A&E Waiting Times for the Seriously Ill at Ealing Hospital Worst Ever Recorded in England<\/b><\/p>\n A new NHS low was reached in the week of 14 to 21 December 2014. At Ealing and Northwick Park Hospitals only 53.7% of Type-1 A&E patients (the most seriously ill) were treated within four hours. This is the lowest number ever recorded in England. All this is against a backdrop of no increase in Type-1 demand. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n We should all sympathise with the heroic staff in Ealing Hospital A&E who are working to their limit with too few beds, too many temporary staff and an uncertain future ahead for all of them.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n All this is at a time when the NHS\u2019s own figures show no increase in A&E attendances.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Surely now is the time for the NHS \u2018Shaping a Healthier Future\u2019 plans to close Ealing Hospital and Charing Cross Hospital A&E units to be dropped. More acute beds and permanent acute staff must be acquired at these units.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Solace Mental Health Centre Closure Plans – Linked to Death by Suicide \u2013 Are To Be Reviewed<\/b><\/p>\n The London Borough of Ealing\u2019s (LBE\u2019s) Solace Mental Health Centre in Bowmans Close, West Ealing has been a 365 day\/year walk-in centre for mental health service users for over 22 years. Recently LBE announced plans to discontinue funding the centre as from April 2015. Without the LBE annual grant of \u00a3104,000 the centre will have to close.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The likely closure of the centre has caused great anxiety and anguish amongst the 85 regular service users. Two have recently attempted suicide and tragically one of them died under a train at Ealing Broadway Station on 7 January 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the face of it if the centre is providing a valuable cost effective service. \u00a0Why can\u2019t it be funded by the NHS West London Mental Heath Trust (WLMHT)? WLMHT currently provides \u00a347,000 annual funding which pays for the centre to be open at weekends.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Alternatively why can\u2019t funds be found from Ealing\u2019s \u00a329+ million 2015\/16 Better Care Fund (BCF)? This pooled fund is operated by LBE and the Ealing Clinical Commissioning Group. BCF exists in order to facilitate the integration of health care and social care. The budget has not been finalised but this should happen in February 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Perhaps WLMHT and the Ealing BCF could jointly fund the \u00a3151,000 annual running cost of Solace?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, with a financial scandal beginning to engulf WLMHT (see below) it seems highly unlikely that it will be in any position to inject funds to save Solace.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n On 13 January 2015 \u2018Ealing Today\u2019 reported that the LBE Councillor responsible for health \u2013 Hitesh Tailor \u2013 had said that LBE somehow wants to \u2018continue the service\u2019 at Solace. LBE has delayed a Cabinet decision on Solace and LBE Officers are now \u2018developing proposals\u2019. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n It appears that Mencap might commit \u00a340,000 annually to renting out space at the centre. At an LBE meeting on 27 January it emerged that a final decision could be made before the middle of February 2015.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n More on Solace and to sign the Save Our Solace Centre petition see www.saveoursolace.co.uk<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now Ealing Hospital Maternity Unit Closure Date Has Slipped Again<\/b><\/p>\n Midwives at Ealing Hospital are mired in uncertainty as to when they might transfer to another hospital maternity unit and when exactly birthing will cease at Ealing Hospital. The likely date for closure of the Ealing Hospital maternity unit was originally 31 March 2015, but the NHS has failed to confirm this. Ealing CCG has told Ealing GPs not to refer expectant mothers to Ealing Hospital any more and currently referrals are down by 50%. Once referrals drop by another 25% the service will be unsustainable. There seems to be uncertainty about when and if extra capacity will exist at other maternity units when\/if Ealing Hospital\u2019s unit is closed. An excellent, well established service for diabetic mothers in Southall is now falling apart \u2013 as is one for HIV+ mothers in Southall.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n When Ealing Hospital maternity unit closes Ealing mothers will be referred to Hillingdon, St Mary\u2019s, Hammersmith, Northwick Park, West Middlesex and Westminster & Chelsea Hospitals. However rumour has it that Hillingdon Hospital will refuse to admit Ealing mothers. After closure of the Ealing Hospital birthing unit and the neo-natal unit, the ante-natal and scanning units will be retained.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Although a relocation process is in place, the 120 staff apparently have no formal job offers or formal start dates. All of the staff have issues which include very low morale, general uncertainty, school drop-off and pick-up arrangements for their children, travel to work and car parking at work. Midwives will soon begin to leave and the birthing service will have to close as it will be deemed \u2018unsafe\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A rethink on the fate of the Ealing Hospital Paediatrics unit has resulted in its retention for a year.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n NHS Lammas House Repurposing as Mental Health Residential Recovery House Bites the Dust \u2013 As Financial Scandal Engulfs WLMHT<\/b><\/p>\n Plans for converting Lammas House on Mattock Lane into a 12 bedded residential mental health Recovery House have clearly gone all wrong, as we hear the building has been sold by the NHS West London Mental Health Trust (WLMHT) for \u00a32.9 million. <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u2018The Independent on Sunday\u2019 of 25 January 2015 suggested that the Recovery House project was scrapped because of financial turbulence at WLHMT. Anti-fraud specialists Mazars are currently investigating a \u00a34 million overspend on unfunded or unapproved projects at WLMHT.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I understand that alternative facilities have been acquired on a 5 year lease at Amadeus House, 18 Corfton Road, W5. This house has 17 bedrooms and was until recently a care home for 11 mentally ill residents.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Independent Health Commission Inquiry (IHCI)<\/b><\/p>\n
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