FED-UP PARENTS DEMAND ACTION NOW:
Health secretary avoids putting timescale on 24/7 service
Fed-up parents have demanded a solution to the problems facing St John’s children’s ward after last week’s statement from the Health Secretary left the ward in limbo.
The children’s ward at St John’s Hospital will remain closed to inpatients indefinitely after Health Secretary Jeane Freeman failed to state when the ward will return to a 24/7 service in her parliamentary statement on Thursday (September 27).
Ms Freeman said: “I have received an assurance from the chief executive that the board has set milestones for reinstatement of the service when adequate and safe levels of staffing are in place, with the aim of having the service back on a sustainable basis as quickly as possible.”
She added: “I know that members and the local community are anxious to know when the 24/7 service will be reinstated. I share that anxiety and concern.
“The board’s chief executive has sought to assure me that reinstatement of the full 24/7 paediatric service has the full commitment of the board and will continue to receive the highest level of priority. That, too, is my commitment.”
However, parents of sick children who regularly use the Livingston hospital’s children’s ward have spoken out in an attempt to get the ward reopened to inpatients.
Coady Dorman, from Broxburn, and son Matthew are regular attendees at the children’s ward at St John’s after Matthew was born prematurely causing him a number of health issues.
The mum is heavily active in trying to restore the ward to a 24/7 service and has spoken previously of her “retching anxiety” when the ward closed for full days last December, causing her to organise a protest at the hospital.
Coady said that unfortunately stories like hers, and that of other families highlighted by The Courier, are just some of the many hardships faced by parents and guardians since the reduction of services.
She said: “I was saddened to hear of the most recent family’s ordeal (the MacKenzie family) with the ward closure, but the unfortunate truth is cases like these are happening weekly and have been since the decision to cut inpatients – it’s just not everyone who approaches the media. We are so caught up in caring for said unwell child.
“The Royal College of Paediatricians have twice now stressed the importance of having a 24-hour children’s ward in St John’s. Jeane Freeman said herself during last week’s debate that this is an issue that is high on her agenda, and with her recently taking over from (previous Health Secretary) Shona Robison, I am confident in her determination to resolve this.
“I know that myself and other parents in West Lothian have a massive
appreciation for the ward and its hardworking staff. Without them things could be very different for our children, and we want them to know how thankful we are, especially us regulars.”
Stacey Hutchison, from Whitburn, whose son Frankie has Dravets syndrome, a condition that causes severe seizures that can cause brain damage, has spoken of the stress the reduction in service has caused her family.
Such is the severity of her son’s condition that she has an agreement with St John’s that Frankie will be treated at the Livingston hospital in an emergency and only when stable will he be transferred to the Sick Kids in Edinburgh.
However, Stacey says the stress caused by any transfer is “far from ideal”.
The mum said: “I’ve resigned myself to thinking that in any emergency he would go to St John’s and that when he was stable they would transfer him.
“But even the stress of that – you’re transferring a very poorly child, I’m not happy about that when we have our own very good hospital here.
“Can you imagine how much stress that would be? And then if he was kept in that wouldn’t be ideal.”
NHS Lothian bosses have said they are “a step closer” to a 24/7 service as they have recruited three new trainee advanced nurse practitioners.
Jim Crombie, deputy chief executive, NHS Lothian, said: “We are delighted to announce that we have appointed three new members of staff to our team.
“These new posts show our commitment to restoring the service as quickly as possible and are a really exciting breakthrough.
“Our previous recruitment campaigns did not provide the numbers of medical staff necessary for the continuous out of hours cover that we need, so we have had to create smarter ways of delivering safe, effective and sustainable paediatric inpatient services for children in Lothian.”
Mum Coady Dorman I know that myself and other parents in West Lothian have a massive appreciation for the ward and its hard-working staff