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Issue: 65<\/b><\/p>\n
16 April 2018 <\/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. Increased financial funding is what is needed in our NHS \u2013 not financial cuts, closure of vital services or privatisation.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n NHS North West London (NWL) Hire Management Consultants For \u00a395,400 to Yet Again Re-write Business Case for the Stalled 2012 \u2018Shaping a Healthier Future\u2019 (SaHF)Project<\/b><\/p>\n The NHS NWL Clinical Commissioning Group cabal has revealed that in November 2017 it hired management consultants GE Healthcare Finnamore. The consultant\u2019s task was\/is to work on \u2018Urgent & Emergency Care Strategy (Strategic Outline Case)\u2019. The cost for completing the task was\/is \u00a395,400.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The work described here relates to the December 2016 NHS NWL SaHF ImBC SOC1 business case which was rejected by NHS England (London) and NHS Improvement England (London) on 28 September 2017. A major component of this business case was\/is a request for \u00a3513 million for building work. NHSE\/NHSI could find no evidence in the business case to support the assertion that 99,000 Non-Elective admissions could be eliminated annually at NWL Acute hospitals by 2025\/26. A further claim was that implementing SaHF SOC1 would save 334 lives each year!<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The SaHF, published in 2012, promised to \u2018..improve care both in hospitals and the community and save many lives each year\u2019. It also promised 4% cost savings every year. In September 2014 SaHF downgraded Central Middlesex and Hammersmith District General Hospitals with the consequent loss of two hospital A&E units. A&E performance in NWL immediately plummeted and has never recovered. No SaHF figures on lives saved or cost savings have ever been announced.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Apparently on 9 February 2018, NHS NWL bosses were going to have another go at persuading NHSE\/NHSI on the merits of its revamped ImBC SOC1 business case. However this meeting was cancelled. Seemingly another such meeting was likely in March 2018, but if it happened and NHS NWL had succeeded, no doubt we would have heard about it by now.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n NHS NWL has acknowledged in public numerous times that if ImBC SOC1 continues to be rejected and consequently the request for \u00a3513 million is refused, then the plan to close Ealing District General Hospital will be abandoned.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sean Boyle and Roger Steer Deliver Another Compelling Critique of NHS North West London\u2019s Plans and Performance in \u2018Current Issues in the Delivery of Health Care in NW London\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n Published on 19 March 2018, this 20 page report provides clear evidence that the 2012 NHS NWL\u2019s \u2018Shaping a Healthier Future\u2019 (SaHF) plan was ill-conceived and its goals are not being met. The authors are both very experienced and this is the third report they have authored on this topic. They wrote up the findings of the \u2018Independent Healthcare Commission for North West London\u2019 in 2015 and along with John Lister authored the \u2018Health and Social Care in North West London: a Review of SaHF and the NWL STP\u2019 in 2016. This latest report was commissioned by the London Borough of \u00a0Hammersmith & Fulham (LBH&F) who have been consistently the leading West London Local Authority in researching and reporting on care planning and implementation realities in recent years.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Highlights of the report include:<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + Population Growth<\/b><\/p>\n SaHF underestimated this. The 2016 population was larger than SaHF estimated it would be for 2022 by some 800,000. ONS data quoted shows a 10.5% projected growth of population in NWL from 2016 to 2026.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + Attendances at Acute A&E Units<\/b><\/p>\n This has fallen in NWL by 16.5% since 2011\/12<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n +Attendances at non-Acute \u2018minor A&Es\u2019<\/b><\/p>\n This has risen drastically (at Urgent Care Centres and walk-in centres) since 2011\/12. This pattern of attendance is very different in NWL compared with the rest of London and the rest of England. In 2011\/12 in England, 65% of A&E activity was Acute, whereas in NWL it was 49%. By Q3 2017\/18, A&E activity attendance at Acute units remained at 65% but in NWL it had fallen to 37%.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + Admissions into Acute Hospitals<\/b><\/p>\n Risen by 8% in NWL since 2011\/12. This figure includes a dramatic rise in the number of emergency admissions not via A&E. Direct admissions by GPs rose from 12,000 in 2011\/12 to 29,000 in 2016\/17.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + Waiting Times at Acute A&E Units<\/b><\/p>\n Since September 2014, the proportion of people not treated within four hours has been consistently poorer in NWL than elsewhere in London and in England<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + Waiting Times to be Admitted to a Bed in Acute Hospitals<\/b><\/p>\n In Q3 2017, 5.3% waited for up to 12 hours for admission to NWL hospitals. For the rest of London it was 2.75% and the average for England was 4.1%.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + Acute Bed Capacity<\/b><\/p>\n Between 2009\/10 and 2017\/18 this fell 270 beds in NWL.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + <\/span>Report Recommendation to LBH&F<\/b><\/p>\n Worth repeating in full:<\/span><\/p>\n \u2018The Council should continue to monitor NHS plans, and to insist that these are subject to the full scrutiny of the Council. Future demand projections and evidence for the success of out-of-hospital services and new models of care continue to be updated and although there is evidence that acute A&E attendances may have fallen across NW London, this has not resulted from SaHF plans presented now. In our view the introduction of minor A&E units has had the biggest influence. Moreover the level of emergency admissions has risen since 2012, not decreased as SaHF would have projected\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The report makes for refreshing reading as it\u2019s written largely in everyday language with a minimum of jargon. One does wonder just how many more times these experienced, expert healthcare researchers, observers and communicators have to document the continuing failure of the 2012 SaHF initiative. Surely it would be a mercy killing to stop attempting to resuscitate SaHF?<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Read the report at:<\/span><\/p>\n www.lbhf.gov.uk\/sites\/default\/files\/section_attachments\/current_issues_in_the_delivery_of_health_care_in_the_borough_final.pdf<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n LEGAL NEWS<\/b><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + <\/span>999callforNHS<\/b> \u2013 Accountable Care Organisations, Whole Population Budgets: Judicial Review<\/span><\/p>\n In Court on 24 April 2018 in Leeds<\/span><\/p>\n www.999callfornhs.org\/999-judicial-review\/459383706<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + <\/span>JR4NHS<\/b> \u2013 Accountable Care Organisations, lack of public consultation and lack of Parliamentary scrutiny and legislation: Judicial Review<\/span><\/p>\n In Court on 23 and 24 May 2018<\/span><\/p>\n http:\/\/bit.ly\/JR4NHS<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + <\/span>Barnsley and Rotherham<\/b><\/p>\n Both Barnsley Save Our NHS and Rotherham Save Our NHS are seeking to raise funds to support a legal challenge to fight the planned closure of the emergency stroke services at both local hospitals in South Yorkshire.<\/span><\/p>\n Crowd funding has begun at:<\/span><\/p>\n www.crowdjustice.com\/case\/save-local-hospitals<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n + <\/span>Dorset<\/b><\/p>\n A patient, supported by Defend Dorset NHS and represented by Leigh Day solicitors, is seeking a Judicial Review of Dorset CCG\u2019s plan to downgrade Poole A&E, close Poole Maternity, close Acute beds, and close Community beds in 5 of 13 Dorset locations.<\/span><\/p>\n A Full Hearing has been granted for 17 and 18 July 2018.<\/span><\/p>\n Crowd funding is underway to raise an initial \u00a39,000 at:<\/span><\/p>\n www.crowdjustice.com\/case\/save-poole-ae-and-maternity-and-nhs-beds\/<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n