Forum Topic

Emegency services at Charing Cross staying open

One thing I'd missed amongst all the brouhaha about hospital closures is that there will actually be relatively little change with regard to emergency services at Charing Cross. London Ambulance would never have taken heart attacks, serious trauma, stroke or paediatric cases there any way and this will remain the case.Laudible as the campaign is to try and maintain the status quo in hospital provision they have been a bit irresponsible in giving the impression the area will be totally without emergency provision. A straw poll of the five people I was out with last night revealed that everyone thought that they would soon be no longer able to go to Charing Cross for a medical emergency.

Andy Jones ● 4441d6 Comments

Jeremy Hunt's announcement in the Commons yesterday was not a "branding exercise". I quote below from Andy Slaughter MP for Hammersmith:Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt accepted ‘in full’ proposals to centralise A&E services at five rather than nine hospitals in west London.This means:• A&E departments at Hammersmith and Central Middlesex Hospitals, serving some of London most deprived communities will close ‘as soon as practicable’• A&Es at Charing Cross and Ealing Hospitals will offer ‘a different size or shape’ of service.  This inevitably means a downgraded A&E.  As it will not be ‘a 24 hour consultant-led service with full resuscitation facilities and designated accommodation’ (Type 1)  the remaining A&Es will be minor injury units (MIU) or walk-in centres (Type 3).• No information on the remaining services at Charing Cross, including 500 acute beds, the best stroke unit in the country and other services associated with one of London’s major teaching hospitals.

Una Hodgkins ● 4194d

Well Paul it looks as if you are right about branding. As far as I can see very little has actually changed but Charing X A&E has been 'saved'. Looks like someone has worked out that it was a mistake to make a distinction between an A&E department and an 'urgent care centre'.

Andy Jones ● 4194d

The number of emergencies treated at Charing Cross may actually rise because it will now take paediatric cases. This seems to me a branding issue more than anything else - an Urgent Care Centre seems to be more or less what the primary function of all A&E Centres currently is. That said there is no getting away from the fact that a large hospital is becoming a very small one.

Paul Corcoran ● 4361d

I don't know. They may be right. But the fact is that this is an Urgent Care Centre, with minimal facilities for emergency admissions, if any. It seems very likely that patients requiring admission (?15%) will have to be transferred elsewhere after assessment. The proposed 60-bed specialist "Health and Social Care" unit is of a type previously unknown in the NHS. These proposals are about closing down Charing Cross Hospital as we have known it, including the medical teaching facilities. See this article written by a doctor recently qualified from Imperial NHS Trust, which includes Charing Cross Hospital: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/charing-cross-hospital-has-hardly-been-saved--and-the-decision-to-cut-its-services-will-have-a-terrible-effect-on-public-health-and-medical-training-8493715.html

Una Hodgkins ● 4426d

But is it correct to say that 85% of emergencies that would have been treated at Charing X still will be?

Andy Jones ● 4426d

It is true that heart attacks go to Hammersmith Hospital's cardiac unit, serious trauma (brain and lung surgery) go to St Mary's, Paddington, stroke has moved from Charing Cross to St Mary's some time ago, and the paediatric A & E always was at Chelsea and Westminster.But there are many other "blue light" emergencies: burst appendices, pulmonary embolisms, severe asthma attacks, renal failure, pneumonia, emergency cancer admissions, etc, etc... I'm sure the A & E specialists at Charing Cross could reel off many, many more. For all of these you need more than just GPs in an Urgent Care Centre. That is why we are campaigning to retain full "blue light" A & E cover at Charing Cross Hospital. Please see www.saveourhospitals.net for the latest news.

Una Hodgkins ● 4429d