CAMPAIGNERS have said hospitals outside of central London are being left with only “scraps” of services under the latest proposals for restructuring the NHS.

Now plans are underway to downgrade the 24 hour A&E at Chase Farm Hospital, proposals to reconfigure services across the whole of North London has prompted fears that people living outside of central London will be without easy access to life saving services.

At a meeting today, which was not attended by a representative from the NHS, Kate Wilkinson, Save Chase Farm counsellor, presented the North Central London Sector Review, which covers Enfield, Barnet, Haringey, Camden and Islington.

She said: “The implications of this new review are that basically that Chase Farm is downgraded, Whittington is downgraded and we have a choice between North Middlesex and Barnet retaining all their front line services. I do not accept this.

“There are seven options on the table, [which say] the Royal Free and University College Hospital London are unalterable. It is the rest of us out of central London who are all scrabbling around trying to pick up the scraps.”

Enfield resident Don Smith said: “I can make an analogy with Haiti where they are trying to get aid out of a single airport. It will be just the same with the Royal London Hospital. It will be chaos, the whole of central London will lock up.”

John Jackson, a retired paramedic, and campaigner against cuts to services at Chase Farm, said a “candle was going out” on the NHS.

He said: “We are now watching the NHS disappear.”

The meeting, organised by the Save Chase Farm coalition, included representatives campaigning against plans to downgrade the Whittington Hospital in Islington, was held this afternoon in Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St. George church Hall, London Road, Enfield.

It follows a High Court battle lost by Enfield Council last April. The council had taken Enfield, Barnet and Haringey Primary Care Trusts to court over plans to turn the hospital’s 24 hour A&E into a 12 hour urgent care centre, reduce the size and scope of the maternity department and remove women’s and children’s inpatient services.

The council sought a judicial review, arguing the public consultation, whose results were published in June, was unlawful because it did not give residents the option of retaining a 24-hour accident and emergency department.

Further reports to follow

Here we go again

Wednesday, 25 November 2009 Enfield Today News

REVEALED: NHS chiefs have two sets of plans to cripple North Middlesex Hospital

By Nick Tarver

NORTH Middlesex University Hospital could face the same fate as Chase Farm Hospital and lose its 24-hour A&E and other vital services, under shocking plans being discussed by health chiefs.

The revelation comes at a time when the North Mid is already gearing itself up for an influx of patients when Chase Farm’s 24-hour A&E closes – something which health campaigners fear the hospital will not cope with.

Also, the possible merger of the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead and The Whittington Hospital in Highgate could mean even more patients being sent to the overstretched Edmonton hospital for treatment.

But in a letter leaked to the Advertiser, a proposal to downgrade North Mid is listed as one of four future configurations for north London’s healthcare. The letter was written by Rachel Tyndall, chairwoman of the steering group of the North Central London Service Organisation Review which plans north London’s future health services.

The chief executive of North Mid, Clare Panniker, is also part of this group and would be privy to any plans or discussions – although she refused to comment to the Advertiser.

The proposal has been described as “bonkers” by Edmonton MP Andy Love. He said: “We will resist, in the strongest possible terms, any suggestion or even hint of downgrading North Mid. This is a new state-of-the-art facility. It’s just bonkers to even think about it.

“A&E is one of the specialities of the North Mid. With Chase Farm and the possibility of some patients coming from the Royal Free and The Whittington, we will have one of the largest and most diverse A&Es in the whole country. After achieving that, to then go entirely in the opposite direction, would be simply wrong.

“It’s totally contrary to everything that’s being done and doesn’t make any sense medically or economically.”

Councillor Kate Wilkinson, from the Save Chase Farm group, said there is now a significant threat to all hospitals in north London. “If there’s any suggestion to downgrade North Mid into a local hospital then it’s absolutely absurd,” she said. “To say the Edmonton area could cope without retaining a major acute facility is mad.”

Plans to merge the Royal Free and The
Whittington will already see extra patients being sent to North Mid. Mrs Wilkinson said there was no evidence to show the hospital will be able to cope with the extra patients from a downgraded Chase Farm and that if Whittington’s A&E closes the hospital will be squeezed with thousands more patients from Enfield and Haringey.

“There is currently the rebuild happening at North Mid to increase capacity, but we’re yet to see any evidence that it will be able to cope with the increase of thousands of patients if Chase Farm is downgraded,” she said.“If you add
downgrading The Whittington into the mix, many people would doubt the hospital would cope. It would be a very dangerous
situation.

“The rebuild at the North Mid was designed and agreed before the talks of downgrading Chase Farm. We are told the designs were
modified, but we are yet to see the figures and statistics to back that up.”

Council leader Michael Rye criticised the plans to merge the Royal Free and The Whittington, warning that Enfield residents would suffer.

“This is a worrying development and I am concerned that if the Royal Free and The Whittington merge it could have an appalling domino effect,” he said. “A merger could place extreme pressure on Barnet General and the North Middlesex, which affects Enfield residents.”

The council went to the High Court to seek a judicial review this year. It was initially sanctioned, but then turned down after an appeal by Enfield PCT.

Mr Rye said: “We fought long and hard to stop the effective destruction of Chase Farm but were thwarted in the courts. This latest development is potentially dangerous for millions of Londoners and thousands of Enfield residents and we have only learned of it through the press, which is outrageous.

“The government must explain its rationale over its strategic plans for London’s health service and demonstrate how this will not place Londoners in danger, rather than pursuing what appears to be a piecemeal stealth attack on the capital’s hospitals.”

A spokeswoman for North Mid said the hospital could not comment on Ms Panniker’s role on the steering group of the North Central London Review.

“The scope of this review takes account of the changes already foreseen under the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey clinical strategy,” she said. “In preparation for the extra work planned, the investment and improvement of facilities at the North Middlesex University Hospital have been put in place to ensure that we can deliver.”