A response to the “Possible A&E changes” article

Following the story in the 5 October 2012 issue, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust have responded with the following:

“Patients and local residents support campaign to keep A&E at Chelsea and Westminster

Thousands of patients and local residents have supported acampaign to keep Chelsea and Westminster as a major hospital with a full A&E Department, maternity and paediatric services, and many other key services.

Chelsea and Westminster is a campus of Imperial College London Faculty of Medicine and one of the best performing NHS trusts in thecountry – rated the safest hospital in England by the most recent independent Dr Foster Hospital Guide.

More than 11,000 people registered their support for the campaign by completing a ‘Safe in our hands’ postcard and more than 6,500 people signed a petition set up by elected representatives of patients, members of the public and staff who sit on the hospital’s Council of Governors.

The Shaping a healthier future public consultation on NHS services in North West London—drawn up by GPs, hospital doctors and other health experts—proposes that Chelsea and Westminster is designated as a ‘major hospital’ with a full A&E.

The consultation came to a close on 8 October and the results are now being analysed by Ipsos Mori before a decision is due to be made by NHS North West London in early 2013.

If the recommendationthat Chelsea and Westminster keeps a full A&E service is upheld, ‘blue light’ emergencies that currently go to A&E at Charing Cross Hospital will go to Chelsea and Westminster instead.

However, most patients who currently use Charing Cross A&E will still go to the Urgent Care Centre there because they are not emergency cases.

Chelsea and Westminster is already making plans to expand and improve its A&E Department to accommodate the extra patients who would come in as emergencies if Charing Cross had an Urgent Care Centre instead of a full A&E.

If Chelsea and Westminster was downgraded to a local hospital without a full A&E, not only patients who rely on A&E would be affected.

Chelsea and Westminster would also lose its Maternity Unit, life-saving facilities for children, and many other services.

If these services were lost to patients, Chelsea and Westminster Hospital would be non-viable and face the very real threat of closure.

More information about the ‘Safe in our hands’ campaign is available on the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital website at www.chelwest.nhs.uk/safeinourhands.”