Southport NHS campaign steps up
The campaign to retain Southport’s 24 hour A&E unit steps up a notch this week with the distribution to hundreds of shops in and around Southport of petition forms calling on the Health Secretary to not cut the unit. The move comes as Southport Hospital joined many others in declaring themselves ‘black’ for new admissions.
“The current A&E cannot cope with demand but the government and its minions are suggesting that it should be hacked back or even closed down altogether,” says local Lib Dem Health spokesperson Councillor Tony Dawson (above, right). “Such a move would destroy much of our local hospital.”
“The petition has already gathered hundreds of signatures in parts of the area. Campaigning halted over the Christmas break but is now stepping up a notch. We have had a particularly good response from residents in Banks, Hesketh Bank and Tarleton who would have even further to go to access A&E in St Helens, Aintree or Wigan than would other residents in the Southport area.”
Local Lib Dems have also submitted a further motion on the national state of the NHS for debate at the January Sefton Council meeting. This comes as Dr Sarah Woolaston, the Tory MP who chairs the Commons Health select committee has lashed out at the Prime Minister Teresa May. Dr Woolaston (below left), who spent 20 years working in the health service before becoming an MP, says that the Prime Minister is being dishonest with her “£10 billion pledge” for the NHS and has accused Mrs May of ‘moving the goalposts’.
The former GP states that the real cash figure available for the NHS is actually less than half of what Mrs May suggests, and that the deception could even lead to voters losing their trust in the Conservative Party. She said:
‘When Theresa May came into office a lot of us were really impressed by her speech about the burning injustice of health inequality – but you’ve got to match that with policy.”
Nearly half the hospitals in England declared major alerts last week, with the NHS winter crisis showed no signs of abating. 65 out of the country’s 152 hospital trusts issued ‘operational pressure alerts’ last week, saying they could no longer cope and ‘patient flow’ was being affected. Southport and Broad Green Hospitals were two out of six hospitals which issued an even higher alert level – the highest – saying that ‘patient safety’ was at risk more than once during the week.
“Currently, well over a quarter of emergency patients are having to wait more than four hours to be seen, making a nonsense of published targets,” says Councillor Dawson, whose father is also a retired local General Practitioner.
“The vast majority of ambulance services are failing to hit their response targets, leaving the sick stranded. People see the situation all over the country. I was sickened to read this week of a 93-year-old widow being left on the freezing pavement for 40 minutes waiting for an ambulance after a fall. Unfortunately, these tails are becoming too common.”
“Luckily a kind local shop owner provided this lady with a blanket while she waited but this level of service is simply not acceptable.” Councillor Dawson concludes.
Hospitals closed the doors to A&E and diverted patients elsewhere 39 times in the first week of January, declaring they could take no more. The Red Cross has stepped in to help the NHS in England to deal with the increased demand. The charity’s chief executive, Mike Adamson, says extra cash is desperately needed for health and social care to make the system sustainable.
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