Writing to Redbridge Councillors re 1) 10 Downing Street visit on 12th July 2) Health Scrutiny meeting needed ASAP

I wrote to Redbridge Councillors earlier today per the below, my next task is to write to Barking & Dagenham & Havering Councillors with a view to getting support for the call for more critical care beds at King George & Queens Hospitals.

Dear Redbridge Councillors

I introduce myself to new Councillors, I have been part of the campaign team to save King George A&E for a while. Using a room at Redbridge Town Hall as a base, the team have organised a number of events to keep King George A&E open.

The link here http://savekinggeorgehospital.blogspot.com/2014/09/photos-from-10-downing-st-visit-today.html shows a cross party & cross borough letter being delivered by six Cllrs as part of the campaign back in 2014. At the end of this email I repeat the email sent to some Redbridge Councillors last Friday when a lot of Councillor emails were unavailable about the need the shortage of life saving critical care beds.

There is a, hopefully temporary, fracture in the save King George A&E team over the 15th March 2018 decision by Redbridge Council to take “surplus” land out of the Green Belt protection with a view to allow housing on the site.

However, it seems vital that the differences between campaigners be put aside for us to come together to request that more funding to open extra critical care beds at King George & Queens be made available. I have hosted platforms with senior Redbridge politicians over the years and have always looked to support the cause rather than saying anything to undermine anyone else on the platform. Should the press be interested in the photo shoot at number 10 on the 12th, and I was interviewed I would promote the issue of more critical care beds and not attack the Council for allowing housing on the King George site.

To this end, I have made a booking for midday July 12th to deliver a letter to 10 Downing Street to request funding for more critical care beds at King George & Queens Hospitals.

The 12th seems an ideal date as the NHS NEL London Joint Commissioning Committee meets on 11th July. Local Authorities have seats on this committee and I would hope if a lobbying job is done before hand, the committee will write to the Department of Health on the 11th July to seek additional funding for more critical care beds for King George & Queens. Bearing in mind NE London has one of the fastest growing populations in England it seems reasonable to seek these extra critical beds.

It would be great if, on a cross party basis, six Councillors from Barking & Dagenham, Havering & Redbridge could attend Downing Street on the 12th. However, there is an argument that spaces should be found for Keith Prince, the GLA representative for Havering and Redbridge and Shaun Bailey, a London Wide GLA who sits on the BHRUT board.

Letters to 10 Downing Street can really help a cause, the local press is almost certain to cover, and the Save King George A&E campaign has got TV cameras along in the past to some events.

I will be asking Cllr Athwal if he will allow a room to be booked at the Town Hall for a planning meeting in the near future to discuss how make the campaign for more critical care beds at King George and Queens this winter a success.

It should not take it for granted that King George A&E is to stay open. The BHRUT board have recently decided to concentrate board meetings as Queens (1) The published clinical strategy on the BHRUT site is still in favour of closing King George (2). The Redbridge Council infrastructure plan sent to the Secretary of State as part of the local plan does not see a future for King George as a “centre of future care delivery.”


Therefore, expanding critical care beds at King George will send a clear message that King George A&E is not only set to stay open, but will be expanded to cope with our growing population. Health Scrutiny Committee which was due to meet this coming Monday and would have been an ideal meeting to discuss expanding critical care beds has been cancelled without explanation. I hope this Health Scrutiny Committee will be re-scheduled asap.

I aim to send a notice of a planning meeting in the near future re preparations for the 12th July.


Regards

Andy Walker
120 Blythswood Road IG3 8SG 07956 263088

2 https://www.bhrhospitals.nhs.uk/clinical-services-strategy

    1. Current health facilities/ properties in Redbridge include: King Georges Hospital (acute) Goodmayes Hospital (mental health) Hainault Health Centre Loxford Polyclinic 46 general practices 47 dental practices 58 pharmacies 30 15 optometrists 13 NHS PS properties 41 NELFT properties 8.5 Since April 2013 the property ownership of the former Primary Care Trust has fragmented several ways and the ownership of NHS Estate has been split between two Department of Health controlled companies: Community Health Partnerships (CHP) hold all the new LIFT/PPP buildings NHS Property Services (NHS PS) hold all the leased and PCT owned estate. 8.6 The current NHS estate is in a variable condition. It is not always in the right location to deliver local services to the population and it is often not fully utilised. Commissioners and providers need to make better use of the existing estate, where major issues include: Void or underutilised space. Inappropriate tenants – for example, core clinical space is often filled with administration and support services. These services could be relocated, in most cases more cheaply and the space could be used to accommodate integrated clinical services. Lack of joint working across organisations where new buildings are commissioned close to existing estate, which could have been utilised, potentially negating the need for the new facility.
      8.7 There has been significant investment in the last decade with 13 new ‘polyclinic’ health centres, Queen’s Hospital PFI and Barking Community Hospital all newly built. These centres will be at the centre of future care delivery.
From: "andy.walker@talk21.com" <andy.walker@talk21.com>
To: "mushtaq.ahmed@redbridge.gov.uk" <mushtaq.ahmed@redbridge.gov.uk>; "jas.athwal@redbridge.gov.uk" <jas.athwal@redbridge.gov.uk>; "sheila.bain@redbridge.gov.uk" <sheila.bain@redbridge.gov.uk>; "stuart.bellwood@redbridge.gov.uk" <stuart.bellwood@redbridge.gov.uk>; "Gurdial.bhamra@redbridge.gov.uk" <Gurdial.bhamra@redbridge.gov.uk>; "paul.canal@redbridge.gov.uk" <paul.canal@redbridge.gov.uk>; "khayer.chowdhury@redbridge.gov.uk" <khayer.chowdhury@redbridge.gov.uk>; "helen.coomb@redbridge.gov.uk" <helen.coomb@redbridge.gov.uk>; "roy.emmett@redbridge.gov.uk" <roy.emmett@redbridge.gov.uk>; "kay.flint@redbridge.gov.uk" <kay.flint@redbridge.gov.uk>; "ross.hatfull@redbridge.gov.uk" <ross.hatfull@redbridge.gov.uk>; "joe.hehir@redbridge.gov.uk" <joe.hehir@redbridge.gov.uk>; "john.howard@redbridge.gov.uk" <john.howard@redbridge.gov.uk>; "linda.huggett@redbridge.gov.uk" <linda.huggett@redbridge.gov.uk>; "farah.hussain@redbridge.gov.uk" <farah.hussain@redbridge.gov.uk>; "Zulfiqar.Hussain@redbridge.gov.uk" <Zulfiqar.Hussain@redbridge.gov.uk>; "muhammed.javed@redbridge.gov.uk" <muhammed.javed@redbridge.gov.uk>; "thavathuray.jeyaranjan@redbridge.gov.uk" <thavathuray.jeyaranjan@redbridge.gov.uk>; "bert.jones@redbridge.gov.uk" <bert.jones@redbridge.gov.uk>; "debbie.kaur-thiara@redbridge.gov.uk" <debbie.kaur-thiara@redbridge.gov.uk>; "bob.littlewood@redbridge.gov.uk" <bob.littlewood@redbridge.gov.uk>; "paul.merry@redbridge.gov.uk" <paul.merry@redbridge.gov.uk>; "suzanne.nolan@redbridge.gov.uk" <suzanne.nolan@redbridge.gov.uk>; "elaine.norman@redbridge.gov.uk" <elaine.norman@redbridge.gov.uk>; "ayodhiya.parkash@redbridge.gov.uk" <ayodhiya.parkash@redbridge.gov.uk>; "kam.rai@redbridge.gov.uk" <kam.rai@redbridge.gov.uk>; "taifur.rashid@redbridge.gov.uk" <taifur.rashid@redbridge.gov.uk>; "joyce.ryan@redbridge.gov.uk" <joyce.ryan@redbridge.gov.uk>; "anne.sachs@redbridge.gov.uk" <anne.sachs@redbridge.gov.uk>; "mark.santos@redbridge.gov.uk" <mark.santos@redbridge.gov.uk>; "dev.sharma@redbridge.gov.uk" <dev.sharma@redbridge.gov.uk>; "varinder.singhbola@redbridge.gov.uk" <varinder.singhbola@redbridge.gov.uk>; "michael.stark@redbridge.gov.uk" <michael.stark@redbridge.gov.uk>; "robin.turbefield@redbridge.gov.uk" <robin.turbefield@redbridge.gov.uk>; "neil.zammett@redbridge.gov.uk" <neil.zammett@redbridge.gov.uk> 
Sent: Friday, 25 May 2018, 20:05
Subject: Anniversary of speech makes case for why Redbridge Council should publish NHS BHRUT statistics on Council web site

Dear Councillors

Why the Redbridge Council should be publishing BHRUT statistics currently not on the BHRUT site to help make the case for why King George needs expanding rather than allow housing on the site

On the afternoon of 27th December 2017, I phoned 111 following concerns about difficulties being able to say the odd word or so for the last 24 hours.

The 111 call handler recommended I go to King George A&E which I did by car. While being assessed by a doctor I had a fit. My Glasgow coma score was dropping and I had to be put into a medical coma with a stroke diagnosed.   Rather than immediate transfer to Queens, I was stabilised at King George in a critical care bed and the next day I was taken to the Queens Stroke unit. The local NHS appear to use critical care bed rather then intensive care, but the terms seem interchangeable (1)

Critical care beds are literally life savers per a presentation made to the BHRUT board meeting last summer which I attended (2) My experience begs the question about whether it is always right to take every type of Redbridge stroke patient direct to Queens (the current practice) even if all critical care beds are full at Queens and one is available at King George.

Despite Critical Care beds recently being increased by BHRUT, they are still not enough. The critical care bed occupancy statistics for February 2018 show that both King George and Queens critical care beds were frequently at 100% (3). Sometimes both Queens and King George critical care beds were full up on the same day.

There is a stroke scale from 1 being the mildest to 42 being the worst. There is evidence that each additional point on the scale decreases the chance of a good recovery by 24% (4)

My own score was 1, the very mildest form of stroke. No one will know if my stroke score had got worse if there had not been a critical care bed at King George, but I will always be grateful there was a critical care bed for me on that day.

Ahead of the petition being presented on 21st June, I will be seeking agreement to my request that Redbridge Council publish monthly statistics about critical care beds and other data which is not on the BHRUT site as a type of information lever to make the case to extend critical care and other provision at King George and Queens.

Not only do BHRUT not publish the the daily critical bed occupancy on their site, other such vital information as time taken to diagnosis for such serious conditions per the below in February 2018 are not published.


Average Time to recieve diagnosis pneumonia (mins)
Average Time to recieve diagnosis Sepsis (mins)
Average Time to recieve diagnosis UTI (mins)
664
673
446

Such a long time to reach a diagnosis must be a pressure on mortality rates or a longer recovery period.

Tony Benn made a speech fifty years ago today which set out six proposals to make our country fairer. His second is the use of statistics to build a better society. Advances in computing technology now allow us to know far more about what is happening in our hospitals,

I will be making the case at council meetings ahead of the 21st June Meeting that the Freedom of Information statistics (3) used there should be published on the Redbridge site each month and the cabinet member responsible give a report at cabinet on these key statistics each month. Allowing the public to question the cabinet about the report would help drive the campaign forward for a better NHS.

It is clear we need more critical care beds at King George and Queens this winter, publishing the statistics I suggest each month on the Council website will help the cause. 

Regards

Andy Walker
redbridgetradeunionparty.wordpress.com
120 Blythswood Road
Ilford
IG3 8SG

  2. Presentation made at BHRUT board meeting in 2017 attached here BHRUT presentation on Critical Care Beds
  3. Freedom of information request sent to me by BHRUT for February 2018 attached BHRUT freedom of information request
(4) Baseline NIH Stroke Scale score strongly predicts outcome after stroke

A report of the Trial of Org 10172 in Acute Stroke Treatment (TOAST)

H.P. Adams, P.H. Davis, E.C. Leira, K.-C. Chang, B.H. Bendixen, W.R. Clarke, R.F. Woolson and M.D. Hansen
First published July 1, 1999, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.53.1.126 at

  2. https://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/jad-adams/tony-benn-and-radical-socialist-tradition The key extract is “Benn gave six conditions which had to be met to ensure the redistribution of political power - to transfer power from institutions to the people.
First, freedom of information legislation. Second, the government should know more about the people it was elected to serve via statistical services and the publication of more data. Third, referendums should be held on major issues. Fourth, Benn urged an opening up of the mass media to those with minority views. Fifth, representative organisations should be encouraged and promoted so that they could be consulted by government. For example, trade unions should be funded to help them to perform their duties in regard to industries which had already been amply supplied with government money. Finally, there should be devolution of power to regions and localities.”
This is the key table below showing the days both King George & Queens critical care beds full up during February 2018




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