Bigger goal
Health boss ‘certain’ A&E closure saving lives
TEMPORARY changes which saw A&E centralised at Gloucestershire Royal Hospital is “saving lives”, the chief executive of the county’s two main hospitals has said.
Cheltenham General’s A&E department was temporarily shut earlier this year until next spring as the local NHS trust began preparations for a second spike in coronavirus hospital admissions.
It was turned into a Minor Injury and Illness Unit (MIIU), operating 8am to 8pm seven days a week, initially for a period of three months in June.
The moved triggered opposition by campaign group REACH and some residents, who previously expressed concerns that the coronavirus pandemic was being used “as the pretest for a quiet downgrade” of Cheltenham General Hospital.
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has repeatedly said it “remains committed” to the return of Cheltenham General Hospital’s emergency department status.
Speaking in a live webchat on the Gloucestershi relive Facebook page, the trust’s chief executive Deborah Lee said she is “absolutely certain” the changes have “saved lives”.
She said that Cheltenham General Hospital has done more cancer surgery and care than any other hospital in the South West.
Ms Lee said she accepts that has been achieved by “inconveniencing 15 to 20 Cheltenham residents a day”.
She said: “Cheltenham did more cancer surgery and cancer care during phase one than any other hospital in the South West, and we have continued to be in that place.
“That is because, and I get it, we have had to inconvenience 15 to 20 Cheltenham residents a day.
“I understand to some that feels more than inconvenient, but the upside is we are treating hundreds of patients with radiotherapy, chemotherapy, surgeries, CT scans and MRI that hospitals in both Birmingham and Bristol today have had to kind of pause. It is about a bigger goal.”
Recent media footage has shown ambulances queueing outside Gloucestershire Royal Hospital at the same time as as “70 patients were waiting up to four and a half hours to be seen by doctors”, ITV West Country reported.
Ms Lee said they cannot reverse the changes, and that the ambulances lining up outside Gloucestershire Royal has “nothing to do” with the emergency department.
She said: “Flipping back to the way it was would not change the queuing ambulances. If we were to reverse the change at Cheltenham, we would have a bigger problem because what we would do is send back 10 per cent of the activity and 50 per cent of the staff.
“I get the cynics who think this is some stealth. Let me assure you these changes are wholly and only in response to the pandemic. We are consulting publicly on anything that will happen permanently.
“The ambulance queueing is the manifestation of the hospitals running out of beds. It is nothing to do with our emergency department. It is the backlog. The last point of queue is the ambulance which cannot get into the emergency department because the patient cannot get into it as they cannot get into the bed.
“We have a single bed base. Cheltenham and Gloucester is one single bed base. All the beds in Cheltenham are full and all the beds in Gloucestershire Royal are full. Changing where the ambulances go won’t fix this problem.
“To top it all off, we would have people coming from Cheltenham who we cannot test, who we cannot segregate and before we know it we would look like other parts of the country.
“I really understand this is a difficult ask and it is a bold statement but we are saving lives through this approach. I am absolutely certain of that.”
The Prime Minister previously said in the House of Commons he was “assured” the closure of Cheltenham General’s emergency department was temporary.