Our local Primary Care Trust, responsible for NHS provision in the west of Cornwall, stated at their recent AGM that their ambition for next year was to reduce A&E waiting times and improve ambulance response times. We would of course agree with that - we have all heard about the excessively long waits for beds. We also know that the health community have set targets for reducing emergency admissions to hospital, aiming to reduce the rise from 7.9% to 4%.

However, it is difficult to see how this can be achieved, for three main reasons:

1. Emergency admissions to hospital in the county are currently running at 11% over target. Short of refusing admission to hospital, and turning patients away, there seem no signs of patient numbers dropping, despite a number of costly initiatives

2. The change in GP contracts from April 2004 is likely to result in a massive increase in demand for emergency hospital services, as GPs will in large numbers exercise their right to opt out of offering evening and weekend care, and patients may well have nowhere else to go

3. Locally, there is currently a significant reduction in the hours during which emergency surgery is possible at West Cornwall Hospital because of a lack of anaesthetic assistance. This means that emergency surgery can only take place at certain times - and inevitably results in further overloading at Treliske, with its consequent impact upon waiting times

Of course, residents in the west of Cornwall, who have long campaigned for a second full A&E facility in the county, know that such a facility would dramatically improve waiting times. More importantly, it would improve the patients' and relatives' experience of emergency care. The only question to be asked, therefore, is - when can we expect a proper upgrading of facilities, probably at West Cornwall Hospital, to enable these improvements to take place? Many of us are very tired of waiting……..

For further information contact
Marna Blundy
(Co-ordinator)