Forum Topic

stop the closure of ealing hospital

Mrs Ann Talbot ● 4263d29 Comments

Unfortunately from the point of view of actually seeing and experiencing what is going on only a small proportion of the population use the hospitals often enough. Then when they do use them they are suffering from so much trauma in their lives they can't do much more than struggle through their immediate situation.The elderly being cared for at home from where they are often unable to move due to lack of transport and mobility and where they can become further isolated due to poor hearing and an inability to deal with speeding technology is a great way to stop them from having much of a voice - divide and conquer in action.We'd all love to stay in our own homes - and just about everyone hates going into hospital - BUT - we also need nearby accessible treatment.

Philippa Bond ● 3380d

Ealing's Maternity Ward has already been closed.  This is also a source of concern, especially as it had built up great expertise in difficult deliveries - e.g. women with FGM where delivery can cause special problems.

Thelma Leach ● 3382d

But bare in mind Thelma, they're also shutting down Maternity wards as well,which by and large are used by younger women.

Bob Little ● 3383d

I think we should return this to the top of the concerns list as so many people still seem to be unaware of the plans to downgrade Ealing Hospital.Do we really want Ealing (with a population the size of a city like Bristol) to be without a proper hospital with an A&E department?Sometimes I think that there is actually a plot to reduce our elderly population (who use more NHS services and resources than younger people) by ensuring that hospitals are further away and more difficult to get to in an emergency.  Just think of the money that will be saved if we die en route to hospital....

Thelma Leach ● 3384d

I can understand someone wanting a hospital to close because of the bad care that they feel that they or a loved one has suffered there.  Unfortunately this is something that has happened all over the country.  It sometimes takes some very brave whistleblowers to flag up problems because due to the fear of losing their jobs there is a closing of ranks.It shows how important it is to speak out but it is often difficult to know the best way of doing so.  We do still need to have hospitals within a reasonable distance.  What is hospital transport like nowadays?  Non-existent in some places when many people have given up their cars and bus rides can be too long and difficult with pavements that are dangerous to walk along - especially with reduced sight and mobility.If there are queues of ambulances now what will it be like with a reduction of A&Es?

Philippa Bond ● 3406d

Great Moorfields @ Ealing Hospital

Philippa Bond ● 3408d

Thelma and Peter are right George. With an expanding population and the drop in A&E performance after the closure of 2 A&Es in this area my feeling is that we should have another new hospital in addition to what we have at the moment and certainly not to close Ealing. Further I was very surprised at the silence of the unions during the closure of excellent maternity and paediatric departments. Locally and nationally (CQC inspections) these units were highly regarded. Again nearby units were struggling to cope.George if you were so upset with Ealing why didn't you go somewhere else? Plenty of alternatives.

Arthur Breens ● 3408d

I have also heard stories about West Middlesex and the overcrowding which will get worse if ealing closes. It is very worrying.

Peter Chadburn ● 3408d

This is an interesting reaction to the closure of a local hospital.  Where do you suggest that the 300,000 plus Ealing residents should go when they are in need of hospital treatment?  Northwick Park,West Middlesex and Hillingdon are all extremely busy as it is.  The added pressure of Ealing patients on these neighbouring hospitals is bound to lead to longer waiting times, both for A&E treatment and elective surgery. Since the closure of A&E departments at Central Middlesex and Hammersmith, A&E waiting times in North West London are some of the worst in the country and will only become worse if, as threatened A&Es at Ealing and Charing Cross are also closed. I have heard some people complain about their experience of Ealing hospital and I have also heard some people praise it. I myself have had good treatment there. Once a hospital is seen as on the route to closure it is more difficult to attract staff and more difficult to retain existing staff - this inevitably leads to degradation of service.Surely it is better to keep Ealing hospital open and press for improvements, than to close it altogether and leave a population the size of a city such as Bristol with no hospital at all?If your contention that our local MPs are supporting the hospital in order to 'suck up' to the unions is true, then why would they ignore what you claim are the interests of local people?  Surely their constituents have more power over their continued existence as MPs than the hospital unions?

Thelma Leach ● 3408d

I know I speak for my friends and many of my neighbours (and even some clinicians that I know) when I say: Please close Ealing Hospital. It is a dreadful place that I have had to attend for twenty years and I am relieved it is closing.This will benefit Ealing patient community, a block of over 300,000 people, however, I can see why the employees are naturally fighting to keep their jobs through their unions. What I would like to ask the politicians in Ealing is why they continue to go in the face of the experiences of people attending this hospital? The jobs it represents and the unions that represent these workers are a powerful lobbying force, however are they more important than the health and well-neing of over a quarter of a million people? We are seeing a popular backlash against such dictarted opinion and can Huq, Sharma, and Pound (and Bell) honestly continue subjecting people to Ealing Hospital in response to trade union political lobbying rather than exercising their duty of care for Ealing's residents and not feel the effect of this at the next parliamentary and local elections?

George Marquez ● 3408d

https://www.ealing.gov.uk/news/article/1575/fight_the_latest_plan_to_close_ealing_hospital

Philippa Bond ● 3409d

They will need coach services with a loo or two.

Philippa Bond ● 3410d

Should have read Clinical Commissioning Group

Arthur Breens ● 3410d

Not much chance of a new hospital paid for by the wealthy developers, Ealing is unable to organise a usable community space in the Lyra block 2, or a seat in the new North Acton Square

Christopher Bell ● 3410d

We won't be able to have them with good views though because although patients apparently get better quicker with good food and a window to look out of those are not factored in despite the fact that time in hospital costs money.  Instead it is preferred to send people home too early with what is often insufficient support - and so they fall over and have to go back.

Philippa Bond ● 3410d

There is I believe a new route the 483 between Northwick Park and Ealing Hospitals. It is however a long journey along congested roads. In compensation the Care Commissioning Group under Dr Cuts has arranged sick bags, a defibrillator, seats that fold down to become 10 beds to compensate for the 600 she is cutting from the area and a mini morgue for those who don't survive the long journey on every bus.This hasn't been trialled yet like most of her changes (she calls them improvements) but we take some evidence from the treatment being received by the many patients waiting in ambulances on the ramps of Ealing Hospital.My feeling is that it is full; no room at the inn; full.I suspect rather than closing Ealing and Charing Cross hospitals we actually need another new hospital in addition.

Arthur Breens ● 3410d

Of course there are other alternatives. We could increase the M4, M40, and M25 to at least 10 lanes each, issue compulsory purchase orders and build multi-storey car parks on golf courses and other wasted land, then move everyone together with all required services into new green field sites.

Christopher Bell ● 3410d

If Ealing Hospital is closed, there is no requirement for transport to be provided for outpatients, visitors, etc to any other hospital. Patients close to Ealing Hospital may be referred to Northwick Park instead, which could be a travel nightmare.

Christopher Bell ● 3410d

A&E closed at Du Cane Road, Hammersmith and Park Royal, Central Middlesex, despite the number of tower blocks already occupied with more planned in North Acton, Old Oak and Park Royal, and South Acton. These areas are used as primary expansion locations for much of the rest of London. Cloister Road surgery in North Acton was built for about 5,000 patients, currently handles 9,000 without the additional tower blocks planned, and is desperately trying to get a building extension authorised for the current loading. The developers can assemble another tower block within a few months, but it takes far longer to build and equip hospitals, schools, etc, yet there is no requirement for services first.

Christopher Bell ● 3410d

https://www.opendemocracy.net/ournhs/joel-benjamin/seven-things-everyone-should-know-about-private-finance-initiative

Philippa Bond ● 3410d

The closures are not based on clinical need but on the fact that the PFI hospitals cost too much to service the costs. So closing other hospitals will free up the finance and then they have to adapt the PFI hospitals at a silly cost to compensate for this stupidity. So out shiny new hospitals are owned by investment bankers along with our modern schools. The NHS financial timebomb is down to PFI costs. So what can be done. as with most things Government hide behind other issues rather than facing up to this mess.

Peter Chadburn ● 3411d

Can someone cite where the 40% increase in population is supposedly coming from?Most publications (that were publishing random figures before the EU vote) suggest that the increase for London as a whole would be around 10-12% so for someone to suddenly come up with 40% for our borough seems quite absurd.

Lee Page ● 3411d

Have you been to a hospital and seen how the ambulances have to queue outside A&E and wait and wait before their patient can be left and they can go on to the next call?And how about the time it takes them to even get to a call?

Philippa Bond ● 3411d

40% rise in population in a decade, then even higher. You need to ask why & whats being done about it? This will involve everything, not just hospitals but housing, schools  etc etc

Peter Yale ● 3411d

Meeting tonight, 29th November, 2016, 1930 to 2100 Hammersmith Town Hall

Christopher Bell ● 3411d

It has been suggested that non-Public-Private-Partnership hospitals are being closed because the NHS is legally required to continue paying for the PPP hospitals and is unable to afford them. Which governments went mad on PPP?There is a meeting in Hammersmith Town Hall tonight to discuss more closures.

Christopher Bell ● 3411d

>The question is why is the Health Minister like King Canute? He thinks the rising tide (in this case of demand) will go away.Totally off topic, but I must defend King Canute.He didn't think the tide would turn at his command, he knew it wouldn't and used this to show his courtiers that he wasn't a god, just a man.A lesson for some of our MPs there though I guess.

Paul James ● 4259d

So in the same week that these hospital site closures and selling off of sites is announced, the left hand reveals that the local population is set to rise by some 40% in just over a decade and by even more by 2030.A rise big enough to require 4 more hospitals on top of the existing ones!So what numbnuts thinks it's prudent to sell off hospital sites? Where will these things go when they are really needed.?If they have to mess with the Health System, then at the very least it would be prudent to mothball percieved 'surplus sites' for at least a decade so we know a. the new ideas work b. the demand from increased population can be met.Of course, none of these decision makers will be here by then, they will all have escaped to the country on their huge payoffs.

Anthony Waller ● 4259d

Ann,Thank you for getting me started. The question is why is the Health Minister like King Canute? He thinks the rising tide(in this case of demand) will go away.Against a current background that A&Es in Northwest London failed to meet the target for 95% of all A&E patients to be seen within 4 hours it seems madness to close Central Middlesex and Hammersmith Hospital A&Es next month. Yes Next Month. Ealing and Charing Cross A&Es will close shortly after.Population rising. No alternative arrangements in place. GP surgeries and GPs under pressure and becoming overwhelmed by the demand. The inevitable will happen.Who said, "Be afraid, be very afraid."?

Arthur Breens ● 4262d