Joanne McCartney AM: Mayor needs to take responsibility and stop closure of Chase Farm Hospital
At today’s (Wednesday) Mayor’s Question Time at City Hall, Boris Johnson came under pressure to intervene in the closure of Chase Farm Accident and Emergency Department[1]. Following concerns raised by Dr Onkar Sahota AM and referring to the recent survey from the Foundation Trust Network that describes A&Es as being at “tipping point”, local London Assembly Member Joanne McCartney asked the Mayor if he would now stand up for Londoners and demand the government halts the closure later this year of Chase Farm Hospital’s A&E, or at least until other services are put in place.
Plans to downgrade Chase Farm Hospital A&E were decided earlier this year and are due to come into effect this November despite strong opposition from local residents and GPs. The closure will leave a lack of A&E provision in Enfield and add to the current crisis we are seeing across London. Nationally, attendances at A&E have risen by 50% in the last decade. London’s population is predicted to grow from 8.17 million in 2011 to 9 million in 2020 and yet there are plans to close a further seven A&Es across the capital, six of those will be north of the river. One of two planned A&E closures in south London has already happened.
Local Labour London Assembly Member, Joanne McCartney AM, said:
“We have an urgent and growing crisis in A&E in London. The population is rising and ageing, and has ever more complex health needs. A&E units are seeing ever more patients, and unprecedented demands are being made on the London Ambulance Service, and yet there are these ludicrous plans to close or downgrade A&E departments across London, which the Mayor has been content to allow, despite the overwhelming evidence that the system is under dangerous and unsustainable pressure.
“Residents in Enfield will have to travel further to reach A&E services, and then have to experience an over capacity service when they arrive. Yet once again the Mayor denied having responsibility for London’s health services despite being Chair of the London Health Board.
“Today, I urged the Mayor to stand up for residents in Enfield and intervene on the closure of Chase Farm Hospital A&E later this year.”
[1] Chase Farm’s A&E department is due to be replaced by an Urgent Care Centre in the Barnet, Enfield and Haringey clinical strategy.
