Andrew Dismore

Dear editor,

The  problems you  report at Barnet Hospital  are all too common and are not acceptable. This is not the staff’s fault: when I visited the A and E last  month to see the product of the recent  investment, they were working hard, clearly very professional and committed to their work and their patients.

The London Assembly Health Committee on which I sit has just inquired into A and E problems across London. In the  10 weeks up to the middle of last month, Barnet had 90 incidences of ambulance handovers delayed over 30 minutes, and 622 beds unavailable due to delayed transfers from the hospital  to other forms of care, the responsibility of the local councils. The senior management at the hospital  were in no doubt that  this was a major problem: in November,  110 discharges to residential or nursing homes or home care packages were delayed. Over Christmas it was worse, in large part due to the councils all but shutting down for the holidays. Problems arranging  discharges after 4pm due to lack of staff at the councils add to the difficulty. Things seem to be getting worse, not better.

This demonstrates the need to integrate community care into the NHS as Labour advocates.

In the short term it also shows how wrong it was to close Chase Farm’s A and E just at the time when winter pressures are at their worst. So much for the unequivocal pledge before the last election of David Cameron and Andrew Lansley (then the shadow health secretary) that Chase Farm would not be cut  if the Conservatives  won the election.

Yours sincerely,

Andrew Dismore

Labour Parliamentary candidate for Hendon

Labour London Assembly Member for Barnet and Camden