Hospitals braced for the ‘worst winter on record’ Health is at the heart of national day
Trust top performing in Kent amid unprecedented demand
Defibrillator specialists Medisol visited The Mall Maidstone to teach shoppers how to use the life-saving devices.
The event was part of World Restart a Heart Day, which aims to improve the survival rate for heart attacks.
Armed with dummies, volunteers Erik Latasa, 27, and Candy Johnson-Brown, 51, also showed people how to perform CPR. The company hosted the event in a bid to raise awareness of how simple it is to save someone’s life. A spokeswoman for Medisol said: “It was a fantastic way for people to try it out and ask any questions.”
The company gave away a free defibrillator to a member of the public, drawn at random. Lucky Oluwakemi Adams, 40, plans to place it near her home in Tonbridge Road for her neighbours to use but hasn’t decided exactly where it will go yet.
A&E departments in west Kent are outperforming their county neighbours for waiting times, despite unprecedented demand. Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust (MTW) saw 87% of its A&E patients in less than four hours last month, compared to 76% in east Kent, 71% in Dartford and Gravesham and 69% in Medway. It was slight drop on the same period last year, when 89% were seen by MTW in that time, but still puts the trust in the top 20 nationally.
However, health chiefs are bracing themselves for a tough winter, having already seen record numbers of people attending its emergency departments (ED) - up by 11% in October compared with the same month last year.
Based on the high number of summer admissions, the British Medical Association is warning this winter could be the worst on record for patients requiring treatment. An MTW spokeswoman said: “Over the past 18 months we have put comprehensive plans in place to help us deal with this rising demand. “As a result we have seen significant improvements in our ED waiting times.
“However, there is still more we can do to ensure our emergency patients receive the very highest standards of care and treatment.”
The trust has introduced more GP shifts to free up senior clinicians and is looking at how it can better deal with patients on arrival to get them the best, and quickest, care possible.
The spokeswoman added: “We would also encourage people to help keep our emergency departments for emergencies and life-threatening situations only, by using alternatives such as minor injuries units, GP surgeries and pharmacies, which can help with minor illnesses.”