Andrew Dismore

 

In today’s City Hall Health Committee evidence session, Andrew Dismore, Labour London Assembly member for Barnet and Camden argued with health chiefs over the consequences of the closure of Chase Farm A and E.

Mr Dismore revealed figures that showed the pressures this has caused on the London Ambulance Service, cancelled operations, and delayed transfers of patients out of hospital (Appendix)

Mr Dismore said:

“The London Ambulance Service at Barnet had 380 ambulance handovers which took over 30 minutes and at North Middlesex no fewer than 1,319, way ahead of any other hospital in the London area. This means that the ambulances are tied up when they should be available to attend to other patients.  On 4 occasions, ambulances were diverted from Barnet due to a lack of capacity.

51 operations were cancelled at Barnet and 90 at the Royal Free. Hospital beds were unavailable at Barnet on 963 occasions, 666 at North Middlesex and 474 at Royal Free due to delays in transferring patients out of hospital.

It is clear that the decisions around the closure of Chase Farm (which was promised not to happen before the election but followed soon after) have led to serious problems that have not been addressed, as we predicted.

I particularly highlighted the case of a pensioner whose cancer operation was cancelled at Royal Free due to lack of a bed.

It is time the Coalition Government realised that the NHS is not coping with the consequences of their ill thought out decisions and takes urgent action to redress the outcome of their folly”.