“Risks”: St Mary’s Hospital
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Published: 30 May 2014
One of London’s four trauma hospitals will be forced to use its winter emergency “overflow” beds when the A&E department is axed at a neighbouring hospital, health chiefs have admitted.
St Mary’s Hospital, in Paddington, is already at “maximum utilisation” and an expansion will not be finished before Hammersmith Hospital’s emergency department is shut, official documents reveal.
Imperial College NHS trust yesterday unanimously agreed to close the A&E at Hammersmith on September 10 — the same day that casualty services will cease at Central Middlesex hospital in Harlesden.
Trust managers admitted there were “risks” about overcrowding at St Mary’s and warned ill patients would spend longer in ambulances. But they insisted the changes would ensure better treatment as specialists would be available 24 hours a day at St Mary’s.
No date was set for the downgrading of the A&E at sister hospital Charing Cross, but doubt was cast over its future when Imperial’s chief operating officer Steve McManus said the trust’s emergency care would be based in “one location” — St Mary’s.
The trust has delayed an announcement on the future of Charing Cross for two months.
An urgent care centre at Hammersmith will be extended to 24-hour opening to compensate for the loss of the A&E, which is used by about 60 patients a day, of whom 25 arrive by ambulance.
The vast majority are expected to be taken to St Mary’s, which is 3.3 miles away. Hammersmith will retain its heart attack centre.
Andy Slaughter, Labour MP for Hammersmith, said: “I think it’s an extraordinary decision to nod through the closure of a major A&E department with little or no discussion.
“‘The world will be watching,’ they said. I think they are right about that. This is one of the most deprived areas of London. I’m concerned about the level of care that will be available. It will be GP cover and nurse cover rather than consultant-led.”
Desiree Cranenburgh, of the Save Our Hospitals campaign, said: “It’s the most deprived area and now it’s being deprived of its A&E service.”
An Imperial College NHS trust spokeswoman said: “We have extra acute beds at St Mary’s Hospital, normally used during the busy winter period to ensure we can quickly admit those patients who need in-patient care.
“We will be using these, if required, after the closure of Hammersmith hospital’s emergency unit in order to ensure that we continue to provide safe care to all our patients.
“We already have staffing in place to care for patients in these extra beds.”
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