Delays in Emergency Care unacceptable
September 29, 2008 9:56 AM
Chris Maines is calling for a dramatic improvement to out-of-hours emergency care
"Lewisham Hospital and the local PCT must get their act together and dramatically improve out-of-hours emergency care," says Liberal Democrat councillor Chris Maines, following a damning report that names Lewisham among the worst performing health trust in the country.
The Healthcare Commission undertook a comprehensive investigation into urgent and emergency services available outside normal office hours and have named Lewisham as among the least well performing. The report highlighted the difficulty patients in Lewisham have in contacting their GP out of hours, with many calls going unanswered. It found the hospital is poor at passing information back to GP following a patient attending A&E.
"The most damning part of the survey is the delay in dealing with patients arriving by ambulance at Lewisham A&E," said Chris Maines. "It suggests that the ambulance attends life threatening incidents within 8 minutes but is then 'stacked' in the car park outside the A&E department until the hospital is ready to accept a new patient."
Cllr Maines, who attended the Hospital Trust AGM the day before the report was published, is challenging both Lewisham Hospital Trust and Lewisham PCT about the issues raised. He says, "I want a commitment that both trusts will work together to ensure quick and seamless access into emergency care in Lewisham."
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