Last December every NHS Trust in London bar one missed their A&E waiting time targets. Our hospitals, run by Imperial College Healthcare Trust, had their worst performance for six months only seeing 88% of patients within four hours.
Still, that’s better than North Middlesex Hospital where an announcement was made over the tannoy telling people to go home unless they were in dire straits, as the A&E department could not cope with the numbers arriving for treatment.
At Charing Cross, there has been a 13% increase in the most serious cases attending A&E.
GPs are being asked to take the pressure off A&E, but are themselves under pressure from cuts in pharmacy budgets. Jeremy Hunt has announced plans to cut funding to community pharmacists by £170 million. I spoke on this issue during a Commons debate..
I also kept up to speed on the junior doctors’ dispute, meeting Johann Malawana, who chairs the BMA committee. Hunt is refusing to negotiate and intending to impose the new contract in August against the wishes of almost the whole medical profession. But public support for the doctors remain strong.
Andy Slaughter MP for Hammersmith
(Article from his newsletter)
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