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Save Our Hospitals!

Epsom /St Helier Trust Public Meeting

Wanted  50 Mums with baby or Toddler 

 Pls come and support Epsom Maternity Department

7 March - Conference Room 1, Postgraduate Centre Epsom General Hospital - 9.30am to 11.30am

Missed Surrey PCT WATCH ON-LINE

 Below is link to listen to 1st focus group-next one in  six weeks time. Have suggested evenings and alternative towns.

http://www.surreyhealth.nhs.uk/article.aspx?id_Content=5401

Surrey PCT Focus Group

If you cannot attend pls email your views to sonja.begleymoore@hotmail.co.uk

The meeting will be held at Dorking Halls, Reigate Road, Dorking, RH4 1SG with coffee available from 9.30am to start at 10.00am.  We then hope to finish by 2.30 with a short break for lunch.
sue.james@surreypct.nhs.uk or on her direct dial: 01372 227277

On behalf of Surrey Primary Care Trust I would like to invite you to a meeting on January 23^rd 2008 to discuss the health needs of people living in Epsom and the surrounding areas.
 
The key aim of the meeting is to set out the health needs, which have been developed by Dr Ruth Milton, Joint Director of Public Health for Surrey Primary Care Trust and Surrey County Council, and then to work with you to identify areas and priorities which might need to be given more consideration.  This work is important in how the PCT will develop its future commissioning intentions for these local populations and follows the successful Co-Design principles we used for the Fit for the Future programme

Purpose:
 

• Identify key evidence needed
• Guidance to the PCT about involvement and formal consultation processes; its planning and delivery
• Advice on final evaluation and validation of the options, prior to the formal decisions by the PCT boards

 
 
The Ground Rules:
 
Working Well Together in Co-Design

• One-at-a-time – Equal Time
• Speaking for Ourselves
• Listening:  Seeking Clarification
• Recording Key messages – and Questions

 
The Co-Design Process

• ‘Natural Justice’:  No Preferred Options or Presumed Outcomes
• Transparent and Evidence-based
• Participant Observers’ Key Role
• Respect Different Perspectives:  Proportionality
• Participants Approve the Record

co Design- Get yourself signed up to be on Focus Group

Next week Surrey Primary Care Trust will be sending out invitations to join in on Epsom Maternity talks.

Please email “butler, chris” chris.butler@surreypct.nhs.uk>;

asap to put your names forward as we need as much support as possible. 

Next Public Meeting 7th Dec

The Trust Board is the ultimate decision making unit for Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust. All meetings of the Trust’s board of directors are open to staff and the general public and include opportunities for questions.

Board Meetings 2007

The Trust Board will meet on the following Fridays:

7 December - Friday 9.30am – 11am, Nonsuch Room, St Helier Hospital, Wrythe Lane, Carshalton, SM5 1AA

Chris Grayling Plea

Epsom Hospital Update

Epsom Hospital - Maternity Unit set for Transfer to St Helier.

There has been a major and very unwelcome development which will require very urgent action from us locally if we are to have any chance of stopping it.

Over the past couple of months, the Epsom and St Helier Trust has been going through yet another review of its services. Ostensibly the reason for this is to ensure patient safety - but it seems to me that the only issues of patient safety relate to the number of staff available to work in each part of the hospital. My own view is that all of this is being driven by the financial crisis within the NHS.

The Trust brought in two expert groups to advise them on services, and essentially they have advised the Trust to transfer elective services to Epsom and emergency services to St Helier. The Epsom Accident and Emergency Department would remain open for medical patients - for example those with heart problems and breathing difficulties - but not for those requiring surgery after, for example, a car crash.

There are split opinions over this change. Some of the doctors say it will be very difficult to retain staff in the A&E Department if it does less - others say that the numbers of patients involved are only two or three a day, who would now be treated at St Helier. Whichever way you look at it, it is not a welcome change.

However to me the biggest issue is over the future of the maternity unit and childrens’ services. In future, all inpatient services for children would move to St Helier as would all the doctor-led maternity services. All that would remain at Epsom would be a small midwife-led unit handling a fraction of the number of births at Epsom each year, plus outpatient services. Mothers with potentially complicated births would go to St Helier.

My view is that this is utterly unacceptable. I have never heard from anyone a whisper of doubt about the service provided in the Epsom maternity department. All of this is happening because of the NHS’s determination to save money and to set very high standards for training. I have no complaint about either goal, but there has to be a balance between them and the need to provide local services.

I have a particular anxiety about the creation of a birthing unit. I think there is a real doubt that enough mothers locally will want to use the unit to keep it going for any length of time, and I think it is possible that it may only last a short time before being closed. Most midwife led units are close to or in major hospitals. In cases where they are not, there have been issues about their viability in other parts of the country.

Coming on top of the Government’s intervention to insist that the new hospital is built at St Helier, this is a further kick in the teeth for people in our area - particularly with rumours around that some services may be transferred away from Guildford Hospital as well. The St Helier decision is being challenged in the Courts by my colleagues on Surrey County Council and Reigate and Banstead and Mole Valley Councils, and I suspect will be reversed. I obtained a confidential report under the Freedom of Information Act which demonstrated that the grounds used by the Government for the change - that there were greater health inequalities near St Helier, were actually untrue.

My fear is that these decisions are really being taken for financial and political reasons. I think that many of the other arguments are completely spurious. The NHS is saying that it wants fewer major acute centres and more work done in local community hospitals. Yet the Epsom and St Helier Trust is trying to centre its own acute services at St Helier, even though there are three other major hospitals within a very short distance, and though it can actually be seen from windows in our biggest hospital in this area - St George’s in Tooting.

The decision has not finally been ratified by the local Trust board. We have a few days to try to make them change their mind.

As far as I can see, the only real weapon we have is that we can all vote with our feet and choose other hospitals apart from St Helier in future. It’s obviously important that no one does anything which endangers their own health, but I don’t think the NHS has appreciated that people at the Surrey end of the Trust area will not simply transfer to St Helier.

Can I urge you to bombard the Trust with letters and emails of protest over the next few days, and let them know what you think about any idea of downgrading the maternity unit at Epsom. Its email address is:

enquiries@epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk

The postal address is:

sam jones

Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust
Wrythe Lane
Carshalton
SM5 1AA

Downgrade Epsom - are they mad!!

I cannot believe that having closed A and E  surgical emergencies resulting in  patients having to be sent to St. Helier, St. George’s or elsewhere.  Now they want us to lose our maternity department.  Epsom hospital has always done a wonderful job, having had first hand experience for both myself, my husband and my two boys for various reasons. The hospital serves a large community of young and old alike.  How are elderly residents supposed to visit loved ones if they have to travel to Sutton or Tooting?  How much distress will this cause both the patient and relatives?  The applies to Dads and grandparents too.  How do you access maternity care if you haven’t got a car, are you expected to travel by bus on a journey that would take about an hour?  We have been sold down the line good and proper, no new hospital in Sutton and St. Helier under threat of closure if the rumours are true.  Keep Epsom open to support our local community.

Response numbers for the survey and the petition…

To date we have had 382 people enter a vote in our online petition (as shown in the column to the right) and 582 entries on our survey (the link is in the nav bar above), both off and online. Please click on the respective links and add you opinion, if you haven’t already.

A pdf with an anonymous summary of the results (with no personal information visible!) is available here: Survey Summary Results 24th September 2007
Feel free to download it.

Hospital Plans Shelved. But for how long?

There have been a couple of developments over the summer that can be seen as relatively good news, although at the same time it certainly isn’t a call to stand down. Relaxing the pressure now, under the impression of a victory would be a mistake and will let another attack go undefended.

Local NHS Managers have agreed to put the plans to transfer maternity and childrens’ services from Epsom Hospital to St Helier on hold until they know what the future is for St Helier.
The future of hospitals across London is under scrutiny in response to a report by Health Minister Lord Darzi (read here), which said that London should have far fewer acute hospitals. That’s expected to mean big changes at St Helier, which may lose many of its acute services to St George’s.

The Board of the Epsom and St Helier Trust had originally refused to delay their plans until the London review was completed – but have now changed their mind.

The move follows a summer of protests about the future of Epsom Hospital, which included rallies at Epsom, St Helier and outside 10 Downing Street.

Epsom and Ewell MP Chris Grayling said: “This may well be no more than a brief respite for Epsom, but at least it means that services won’t now be transferred to St Helier before we know if it has a future.”

“I am hugely grateful to all of those who joined the protests this summer. I have no doubt that the crowds at the Board Meeting that first agreed the changes, and then came along to the series of protest events, had a huge impact on the view of managers in the NHS.”

“The NHS needs to understand that the protests will start again if Epsom services are threatened again.”

Hospital Update

The following was recently emailed out by the Epsom MP:

“I just wanted to give you a brief update about what is happening at the Hospital.

The new Chief Executive has now arrived, and has delayed plans for a consultation on maternity until she has had the time to look at what is happening. This doesn’t mean that the plans have been abandoned, but it means that the proposed consultation may be delayed.

The publication of the report on the NHS in London by the new Health Minister Professor Darzi has cast a further cloud over the future of St Helier. My own view is that it will not now survive the proposed reconfiguration of the NHS in London in anything like its current from – and my view is shared by many senior people in the NHS. This makes it all the more important that we work to protect as many of the services at Epsom as possible.

In the meantime, Rosemary Najim has organised a survey of local people to demonstrate to the NHS where patient’s choices in Surrey lie. There has been an automatic assumption that patients will go from Epsom to St Helier, which is not based on any real evidence.

You can access her survey, and take part in it by clicking here

Have a good summer.

Chris Grayling”

If you wish to be kept up to date on developments either register to this site and visit regularly (you can register through a link on the menu above) or you can email Chris via his email address graylingc@parliament.uk

Thanks,
Keiran (SOH Webmaster)

Denbies Epsom Hospital Proposal

A businessman whose charitable trust is trying to buy a Surrey hospital says he believes the idea may represent the future for the NHS.

Multi-millionaire Adrian White’s £20m plan for Epsom District Hospital could lead to major redevelopment of the site and state-of-the-art new facilities.

But he admits some of the services could be for private patients only.

“We can no longer afford the NHS to be free at the point of delivery for those who can afford to pay,” he said.

“The NHS cannot possibly finance the advances in technology and medicine to make everything available to all patients.”

Mr White’s vision for Epsom sees a not-for-profit charitable trust becoming landlord for a full range of consultant-led specialities.

It is a proposal that is being “looked at” by the NHS trust involved but the largest health union has said it is very cautious.

Cardiac unit

Mr White’s Denbies Hospital Trust already owns the hospital’s Denbies wing, which houses A&E and the South West London Orthopaedic Unit.

“What I would like to do is extend that across the whole site,” he said.

He said the Cleveland Clinic, which runs several hospitals in America, is interested in setting up a cardiac unit at Epsom.

Many of services would be provided by private companies from which the NHS would purchase care.

“We would like it to still be the local hospital for people living in Epsom,” said Mr White.

“Their GP could still refer them for the NHS services that remain on site.”

DENBIES TRUST PROPOSAL Maintain orthopaedic unit (currently 100% NHS financed) New Cleveland Clinic cardiac unit (privately financed) Major walk-in GP unit serving local community 24/7 Full maternity and paediatric service Trauma A&E

Under the proposal, trauma A&E would return to Epsom, funded by a 5% commitment to charitable work by private providers on the site.

The NHS would be paid the capital value of the site, which would be decided by the district valuer.

“We believe we would save the NHS £10m in running costs a year,” said Mr White.

Engineer Mr White is chairman of Biwater, a water treatment company he set up in 1968 which now operates in 60 countries from its Dorking HQ.

The father-of-five runs a local vineyard, is a former BBC governor and, until April, High Sheriff of Surrey.

But it was six years as chairman of the former Epsom Hospital Trust which gave him expertise in the health field.

Epsom has an A&E but ambulances take trauma cases to St Helier

The Epsom and St Helier NHS Trust is part-way through an 18-month drive to save £24m. It will involve job losses and bed closures.

Already, emergency and trauma surgery has been transferred to St Helier’s A&E in Carshalton, south-east London.

The trust wanted to transfer maternity and in-patient paediatric services from Epsom to St Helier but has put the move on hold.

“We know that excellence exists within the NHS but the current environment is preoccupied with restructuring and cash,” said Mr White.

He said several meetings had been held with Epsom and St Helier Hospitals NHS Trust, which had asked for more clarification.

Epsom and St Helier Hospitals NHS Trust confirmed it was considering the Denbies Trust proposal.

“We need to understand a lot more about the services that would be provided and the finances.” said spokeswoman Claire Grant.

“When that has been looked at (the details) will be put before the NHS trust board.”

Surrey is already home to the first of a new breed of healthcare providers.

We understand where they are coming from but it is not going to work Michael Walker, Unison

Central Surrey Health, a not-for-profit enterprise formed last year by 700 nurses and other health workers, provides services for Epsom General and Surrey Primary Care Trust.

It has held talks with the Denbies Trust and has said it is “very interested” in further discussions in the future.

Mr White has said many NHS staff would be re-employed under his proposal.

A spokesman for Unison, the public sector union which represents NHS workers, said it would be very cautious about such a development.

“It would be a fundamental move away from the NHS,” said Michael Walker, regional officer for South West London.

“We understand where they are coming from but it is not going to work.

“I don’t think NHS managers would buy back the services that they expect.

“Our focus must be on trying to defend NHS services in Epsom.”

Survey News! Update!!

September 20th 2007 

We are now approaching the end of this phase of the survey and have several hundred recorded opinions from the public. Between now and the end of September, hundreds  of web site  addresses will be distributed so we hope to finish this part of the  survey with over 1000 replies from the public.

Everyone has been really keen to join in, but it has been upsetting to hear some of the difficulties people have when their relatives are in a hospital that is too far away for them to visit. Elderly people shouldn’t have to be alone in times of difficulty.

Thank you to everyone who has made the survey a success- your views can now be put forward to show what the people of the area want when they are ill.

best wishes

Rosemary Najim  

The first day of our survey to collect the public’s choices of our local hospitals went very

well with 146 forms completed and Keiran putting the form online or letting you download the file!

We will be in the Swann Centre, Leatherhead for the next two Fridays (20th and 27th July) and any help is greatly appreciated- just turn up between 10am and 4pm.

many thanks

Rosemary Najim

contact details: rosemarynajim@yahoo.co.uk

Download PDF document: Hospital Survey Form

Let us know your opinion!

Please Please Please fill in our survey that we are using to find out the local communities opinion on the hospital they would choose to use… You will find out more details by clicking here.

Get Involved!

Post your messages, concerns, stories on this page.

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JOIN IN!

Join us on future protest marches - info on Epsom Hospital Campaign page.

SIGN OUR ON-LINE PETITION TO KEEP EPSOM HOSPITAL FULLY FUNCTIONING. 

We are collecting a list of names and verified email addresses to present to the Board of Epsom and St Helier Trust before the autumn meeting, when the final decision will be made on the future of Epsom’s maternity ward.  If you are concerned about the proposed closure of Maternity (and the downsizing of Epsom Hospital in general), then please sign our petition in the blue box, top right: -

Letter to send to new CEO of Board of Epsom & St Heliers Trust

Dear All,
As has been mentioned in previous communications, it’s now time for EVERYONE to send a protest letter to Samantha Jones, the new Chief Executive of Epsom & St. Helier NHS Trust.
We will only have one chance to make a big first impression - so we need to show Ms. Jones from Day One that the whole local community is completely against the current Trust’s proposals to downgrade Epsom Hospital - which might well lead towards complete closure over time.

Ideally, everyone should write their own letters, as this is likely to have more impact than Ms. Jones just receiving one standard letter many times over. However, it is MUCH more important that she gets to understand the full depth of outrage and concern about the current proposals, so it’s absolutely VITAL that as many people as possible send a letter.

If at all possible PLEASE POST YOUR LETTERS ON FRI. 6th or SAT. 7th July
(latest) in order for them to arrive on her desk on Monday morning when she arrives for her first day at work.
(If you can’t do that then please as soon as possible thereafter - any letter sent is better than no letter sent at all !).

All you need to do is print out the standard letter, add your address at the top right-hand side and then sign at the bottom.

PLEASE ALSO ENSURE YOU FORWARD ON THIS STANDARD LETTER to as many friends, family, work colleagues, neighbours, local community groups etc. as possible. It might be worth printing out and circulating a few paper copies, as a way to get more letters sent !

We need a sustained campaign of letter writing so that Ms. Jones can’t let this item slip from her agenda and so that she fully appreciates the extent of the anger and resistance to the current Trust’s Proposals.

WE NEED EVERYONE TO HELP WITH THIS ACTIVITY IF IT IS GOING TO BE A SUCCESS

WE NEED EVERY ONE OF YOU TO HELP CIRCULATE THIS LETTER TO AS MANY PEOPLE IN THE LOCAL COMMUNITY AS POSSIBLE.

Thank you for your support.
Best Wishes,

John Bland.

IMPORTANT P.S.: Later today I shall be circulating full details of next Monday morning’s Protest Rally at St. Helier (at 9.30am). Please look out for this other E-Mail (see next post!). Thank you.

There are two files (click the links in this paragraph to download them!) attached to this post, the original Word Doc, if you wish to type your details and a PDF if you do not have Word on your computer. If you need to get the free Adobe PDF reader you can download it from their website at http://www.adobe.com

PDF version of letter
Word version of letter

SAVE OUR HOSPITALS banner making session

Dear All

I have rented the St.Marks Church Hall tomorrow afternoon to enable us to spend some time creating some ‘Save Epsom Hospital’ Banners for use on Monday at St Heliers (see previous post!) and also to position in highly visible places around the local area to raise awareness and support for our campaign.

We would really REALLY appreciate it if you could join in to help us tomorrow.

The Banner making session starts at St Marks Hall, Tattenham Way, just past Merland Rise Rd, tomorrow (Saturday 7th of July) from 4:15pm onwards. Please bring any banner making materials that you can spare, such as Sheets (of any and all materials), pots of paint, brushes, poles and ropes. The more we have, the more banners we can make!

Let’s spread the word via our roundabouts (fences, gates, bridges, flyovers & flagpoles!)

Click below link to a map of the location:
Save Our Hospitals map page

Regards

Sonja

Hospital Protest Rally Details - VERY IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ

Dear All,
I’m writing to provide you with final details concerning the Hospital Protest Rally outside the main entrance to St. Helier’s on Monday 9th July at 9.30am.

It’s REALLY important that as many of you as possible attend this rally, as we need a large crowd of protesters on that day to demonstrate very visually to the new Chief Executive, Samantha Jones just how many people are opposed to the Trust’s current downgrading plans for Epsom General Hospital.

If we only manage to muster a few people to attend the rally it will give her the impression that not many people are bothered about the proposed changes and that she can press ahead with the current Trust plans against little opposition. On the other hand, if we have hundreds/ thousands of people outside St. Helier next Monday morning, then that will send out a firm message that she needs to totally re-think the way forward.

For information purposes I attach a url on how to get to St. Helier Hospital, should you require it :-

http://www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk/assearch.html?search=y&tm=epsom_darkblue&si=epsom&keywords=St.+Helier

I would like to stress that this rally is protesting against ALL the proposed changes/ cuts to services at Epsom, including A&E and surgery, not just Maternity and Neonatal services (which is what the Epsom Rally on Saturday 14th July is more focused on).

Therefore, it’s important we have protesters of all ages attending on Monday morning, so that the whole local community can be seen to be supporting this campaign.

The Agenda for the Protest Rally on Monday will be as follows :-

9.20am – 9.30am
Everyone arrives at the open area outside the main front entrance of St. Helier.

9.30am – 9.45am          
Brief speeches by various representatives of the Save Epsom General Hospital Campaign including Chris Grayling, MP and Geoff Martin, Union Representative – this will include an update on the current position and what the next steps are in the ongoing campaign.

9.45 am – 10.00am
Protest Rally remains outside St. Helier Hospital, to make our presence felt to the new Chief Executive on her first day. Some protesters may also be asked for their comments/ opinions by members of the local press who will be in attendance.

10.00am
A letter of protest will be formally handed in to the Hospital, addressed to the Chief Executive, which will be added to the hundreds (hopefully) of other protest letters which will have arrived in the post that morning.
Note 1: Weather Conditions – please can I remind everyone to bring along umbrellas/ weatherproof clothing with you, just in case we experience showers/ rain during the protest.

Note 2: We will have 3 large banners to use at the protest, which will say:-

1. “Help fight for Epsom Hospital”.
2. “Stop cutting our hospitals, Gordon”.
3. “Stop the Maternity Closure”.

However, if any of you are able to make suitably worded placards as well (see next entry above!), that would be very much appreciated – please do bring them along !! The more placards we have the more visually appealing it will be for the press photographs.

Finally, I want to stress again the importance of having as many attendees as possible on Monday morning. We not only need YOUR support on the day, but can I also ask you to encourage as many of your friends, family, work colleagues, neighbours, members of local community groups, etc. to come along and get involved as well.

If we lose Epsom’s vital healthcare services due to the proposed cuts we ALL lose out.
We only have one chance to make a big first impression, so it’s vital we all make a stand and make our opposition to these ridiculous plans felt.

We need to show the new Chief Executive from Day One that the whole local community is completely against the current Trust’s proposals to downgrade Epsom Hospital – proposals which may well lead towards complete closure over time.

Thank you for your support.

John

Downing Street NHS Protest Rally - FT COVERAGE !!

Dear All,
Just wanted you to know that we DID get some national press coverage in the FT - albeit small !!
See attached url :-
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/e24d7b2e-2514-11dc-bf47-000b5df10621.html

Glad we got something in the nationals at least.
Will let you know if I find any more coverage.
Best Wishes,

John.

What about the Denbies proposal?

Can someone tell me why the Denbies proposal to consolidate Epsom hospital according to the NHS’s needs has seemingly been discounted?  It saves the NHS not thousands, but MILLIONS of pounds, which could be put to good use elsewhere!??

Read more about the proposal here: http://www.chrisgrayling.net/hospitalupdate.htm

Kingston Maternity Too Busy!

I got chatting to a member of staff from Epsom’s maternity ward this week.  She said that Kingston maternity ward have recently been full and forwarding mums-to-be to Epsom!  So how will Kingston cope if our maternity ward closes altogether!?

This would also suggest that Surrey mums would rather come to Epsom as opposed to St Helier??  I don’t know much about St Helier but I do know from the MP Chris Graylings comments that its safety record is not as good as Epsom and it has fewer births per year there - maybe mums are voting with their feet as to their preference?!?

What do other mums/ would-be-mums out there think?