At a recent meeting of the Mayors' Parlour Campaign Team, members expressed their growing disquiet about the future of medical services in the county, given recent and forthcoming developments.
The Campaign Team, which came into being around the time of the March of 20,000 people over two years ago, comprises the Mayors from every town in Penwith and Kerrier, the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Penwith District Council, Andrew George MP, and the leaders of the West Cornwall and Poltair League of Friends and West Cornwall HealthWatch. This team has met regularly over the past two years to follow the progress of plans for the future of West Cornwall Hospital, and members now feel the situation in the entire county has reached alarming proportions. There are several reasons for their concern:
1. The continuing insistence
by influential voices in the NHS that emergency surgery, should be centralised
at Treliske. This is contrary to all sense and reason. Already Cornwall has
the unenviable reputation of being the only county in England with one district
general hospital. Further centralisation of emergency services would make things
worse. Patients would be at particular risk in the event of a major "superbug"
outbreak, which could strike at any time and put Treliske completely out of
action, with disastrous consequences for the entire population of Cornwall.
It is generally recognised that as hospitals become bigger and bigger, the risk
of super-infection increases. Smaller sites would be much safer than one large
one.
2. The over-burdening of the site at Truro, with news now that there are plans
to build another hospital - for elective surgery - on the Treliske site. Such
further overloading on the infra-structure would inevitably cause gridlock and
delays in reaching treatment.
3. The continuing rise in emergency admissions, set against new plans to reduce
the number of hospital beds in the county. More patients into less beds simply
will not go. All the plans to speed up elective surgery will fail as emergency
patients once again fill many of the hospital beds at the expense of elective
patients.
4. The "time bomb" which is about to explode at the end of this year,
when GPs exercise their new right to opt out of out-of-hours care of their patients.
It seems likely that evening and weekend cover will be provided by nurses or
by unfamiliar doctors, drafted in by the Primary Care Trust who will be responsible
for out-of-hours care. This will most certainly result in a further increase
in emergency admissions to hospital, as new staff who do not know the patients
will inevitably "play safe" and admit patients to hospital rather
than risk leaving them at home.
Representatives of the Mayors' Parlour Campaign Team discussed these concerns at length at their recent meeting. They felt it was imperative that the community understood the issues, and knew the strength of their anxiety. Glyn White, Chairman of the Campaign Team, said after the meeting: "We cannot stress too strongly the sense of foreboding which we all share. Cornwall already receives a poor deal from the funding formula, and this when compounded by some appalling management decisions is resulting in a frightening future for its people. Something must be done before it is too late. "
Marna Blundy
on behalf of the Mayors' Parlour Campaign Team
25 April 2004