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'No threat to 24-hour A and E'
HEALTH bosses at Chorley Hospital's Accident and Emergency department have hit back over fears the unit is to close.
They claim there is no threat to 24-hour provision and that there is a total commitment to A and E services at Chorley, with new staff appointed to cope with increasing demand.
And they say that the controversy following the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust proposals to centre all emergency surgery at the Royal Preston Hospital has created uncertainty for nursing staff in Chorley.
Their comments come following an outcry by those who fought to save hospital services at Chorley back in the 1970s and Chorley MP Lindsay Hoyle, fearing the erosion of services would eventually threaten the hospital's future.
Shake-up
The proposed transfer is part of a shake-up of services aimed at saving 6.5m and meeting new rules on junior doctors' working hours.
Jon Whittaker, clinical director, at Chorley A and E, said the department dealt with 49,000 patients last year.
He said: "We are probably the largest A and E service in the North West when combined with Preston and we are fairly unique in that we operate the same kind of service across the two sites.
"Whatever you see happen in Chorley, happens in Preston and staff rotate between the two sites using common practice.
"We have a reputation as a place where you can get some of the best training and support, we never have a problem with recruitment and we have a full complement of staff which is almost unique in the North West."
The department had 509 applications for three junior doctors' posts needed following the introduction of laws to reduce junior doctors' working hours, and to help accommodate the increasing numbers of patients attending the department.
Extra nursing staff have also been appointed including emergency nurse practitioners, on both sites, who deal with the majority of minor injury patients, freeing up the doctors to deal with more serious cases, and nurse consultants.
Directorate manager Suzanne Hargreaves said: "We have had to respond to the rise in the number of patients coming through. We are very committed to investing in nursing practices, nursing skills and staff development."
Nursing director Sue Reed said: "It is not a one way flow of services migrating to Preston, it is how you balance provision of services across both sites and there is development of some specialists services at Chorley and some at Preston.
Skills
"It is a complete commitment to both hospital sites and finding the best way use both the skills available and capacity available on both sites."
She added: "I can only re-iterate Tony Curtis's comments that if there is any threat to either hospital as a result of the proposals, they would not go forward.
"We are certainly liaising with the Royal College of Surgeons to arrange a visit in advance of any changes in order to provide those assurances."
Mr Whittaker said: "A and E services are not changing, what's changing is the way that services work between the two sites. The department is not closing, we are investing even more.
"We are all aware of the increasing population in Chorley, to close a department that sees 50,000 patients a year isn't something that would be considered."
He added: "The nursing staff are concerned about what they have been reading. We do try and reassure them but it does create a degree of uncertainty with them."
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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