Northwood & Pinner Community Hospital under threat

Hillingdon Primary Care Trust is proposing to close Northwood& Pinner Hospital permanently as a hospital site. This is bad news, but before decisions are taken there has to be public consultation. Community Voice is getting ready to make its case.

There will be an information leaflet about the consultation in January and a website too.

On two weekends in February, 10th/11th and 24th/25th, the public can visit the hospital, ask questions and make suggestions.

In March there will be two public meetings to air your views. A questionnaire will be used to record responses.

One bit of good news - the London Ambulance Service is using the hospital temporarily, until the new ambulance station is built off Pembroke Road in Ruislip. This is good for everyone - less vandalism of the empty building, a better temporary home for ambulance staff, a quicker service for 999 calls from local people.

Joan

Hillingdon Primary Care Trust deficit going down!

In October the forecast for end of year deficit in March 2007 stood at £22.5 million.

Now it is down to £16 million deficit - all done by greater PCT efficiency, NOT be cutting services, which is a remarkable achievement.

Still a long way to go to reach the £11 million target deficit agreed by NHS London, but even that looks possible given that profits from Hillingdon Hospital might be used to plug the gap.

Watch this spot to see what comes next!

Joan

Lots going on at Mount Vernon!

Mount Vernon is a hive of building activity:

1. A new Health Centre, half finished, for the Shackman Practice - by the entrance to Gate 1.

2. New linear accelerators (for radiotherapy), nearing completion, in the Cancer Centre.

3. A new Brachytherapy Suite (for cancer treatment), opened on 1st December, in the Cancer Centre - due to a £2.25 million donation by an anonymous benefactor!

4. Plans for the Mount Vernon Treatment Centre have finally got approval! All preparatory work is already done, so building will start very soon. This Treatment Centre will eventually provide 95% of all the planned surgery for Hillingdon Hospital patients, as well as outpatient clinics, so this is a very important development.

Don't let anyone say Mount Vernon isn't thriving!

Remember to show your support for the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre on the campaign website: www.supportmountvernon.com

Then encourage others to do the same!

Joan

Change for the Better meeting, Clay Oven, Wembley, 11 December 2006

This was the first large all-day meeting of the joint fact-finding exercise in Harow and Brent.

Attendance was about 80, of whom about 60 were NHS employees. Yes, they have to find out what the public wants but the numbers did seem rather too slanted against ?the public?!

The format was the common one of some presentations and round table discussions, with some voting on specific questions, such as 'What do you prefer, being able to see a doctor from your GP practice quickly or seeing a named doctor?' and 'Do you prefer to go to A&E or visit your GP practice?' What was missing from the latter question, of course, was an indication of time of day and, as one of the public members pointed out, indication of age.

One of the most persuasive presentations was by a senior anaesthetist on the way surgery has changed, including the number and types of operations that can now be done as day-surgery. The government target is for 70% of elective surgery to be done this way. Clearly such changes will have major changes on how hospitals work and the patient experience.

There was general agreement that there has to be better co-ordination of NHS and social services, that patients should have a single contact person (or telephone number), a 'case manager' in NHS jargon.

It was noted that for areas like Brent and Harrow there may be a language problem (patient and NHS staff), the non-native English speaker being on either side. Northwick Park Hospital apparently spends well over �100,000 each year on translation and interpreters, in a range of over 100 languages.

Some of the round table discussions were not very helpful, as we were moved around a lot. The surroundings were pleasant and a nice lunch was provided.

Paul Samet

Our December meeting

We squeezed lots of information into a packed meeting - ask for the Minutes if you want full details. Perhaps the most exciting item was that Nick Hurd MP has set up a cross-party website to support Mount Vernon Cancer Centre. We have been involved in this from the start and totally endorse this project. Go see it at: www.supportmountvernon.com

Support is growing by the day, including MPs and many Councillors. Please add YOUR support on the first page of the website and add personal comments on the Forum page if you wish. Then ask friends and relatives to do the same - we want an avalanche of support, with thousands and thousands of supporters!

Mary Wells, Chief Executive of NW London Hospitals Trust was an excellent speaker at this meeting. She gave an overview of what the future may hold for Northwick Park Hospital and Central Middlesex Hospital. Change is inevitable. Hospitals will be smaller with fewer beds. Common and clinically straightforward conditions will increasingly be treated at home or in local facilities, but complex and rare conditions will be dealt with only in a few large specialist centres. She cited heart attacks and strokes as soon only being treated in large centres, possibly far from home, because that is the best way to obtain optimum care for patients.

It was most generous of this speaker to come to our meeting - she left at 9pm to drive home to the other side of London, and still expected to be at her desk by around 8am in the morning!

We finished with mincepies and Xmas drinks. It was nice to have time to socialise. We also sold out of raffle tickets for the Paul Strickland Scanner Centre - many thanks to all who contributed.

Harrow PCT meeting, 5 December

Harrow PCT meeting, 5 December

A long meeting with a huge agenda but not really a great deal to report! The financial problems are easing slightly (savings are being made but not yet enough), there has just been some guidance from the London SHA about its plans for the future and a response is required before the end of January and similar things. The revised 'standing orders' and similar regulations cover some 60 pages and took about 2 minutes to be covered. The best item was the Public Health Report for 2005/6, a well written document, crisply presented, with lots of interesting information of what has been happening and what is planned.

Paul Samet
6 December 2006

The Community Voice - Special Meeting in Yiewsley

The Community Voice is holding a Special Meeting on 23rd March in Yiewsley. It invites all local organisations to apply for tickets. Entry is by invitation only and is free.

So, what is The Community Voice ?.?

The Community Voice is concerned with good NHS services in NW London and SW Herts. It links 50 local voluntary organisations, plus individual members, who meet monthly to hear NHS speakers, ask questions and debate health issues. It monitors five hospitals ? Hillingdon, Mount Vernon, Harefield, Northwick Park and Watford - and surrounding community health services. Currently its major fight is to save the Mount Vernon Cancer Centre.

People throughout Hillingdon Borough use Hillingdon Hospital ? but Community Voice needs more members from the south of the Borough - from Yeading, Hayes, Uxbridge and Yiewsley.

Come to the meeting on 23rd March to hear more about us, what we are doing to save local cancer services, and how by pulling together everyone can help to win this fight. Check our website - http://www.communityvoicehealth.org.uk/

Invitation to Hillingdon organisations
to send delegates to a Special Meeting ? to gather support for local cancer services

Organised by: The Community Voice
Date: Friday 23rd March 2007
Time: 11.30am ? 2.30pm
Place: At HAVS, Key House, 106 High Street, Yiewsley

We will be pleased to welcome two delegates from each organisation
A buffet lunch will be served during the event

Joan Davis, Chairman

The fight for Mount Vernon Cancer Centre!

The fight to keep Mount Vernon Cancer Centre here in Hillingdon has started. It will be a tough fight, but we are determined to win!

Opposition comes from East & North Herts NHS Trust, which currently manages the Cancer Centre, and that Trust says it has no intention of relinquishing responsibility.

So, the fight is on! Community Voice is spearheading a campaign to keep the Cancer Centre at Mount Vernon and to transfer it to local control. We are working closely with MPs, the press and local people. We have already asked Hillingdon PCT to intervene and have asked London Strategic Health Authority to grant us a meeting to express our concerns and to seek action from that SHA.

This issue cuts across county borders and SHA borders, so it will only be resolved at the highest level of the NHS.

Watch this website for up-to-date news.

Joan

Hillingdon Hospital Board hears bad news - and good

The November Board Meeting heard that 'The diary of Patricia Bolsom', a terminally ill cancer patient, had caused the Trust much adverse publicity - some inaccurate - particularly that money factors had restricted her treatment. The Chief Executive visited the patient before she died, apologised, and set up an enquiry. He said much of her treatment had been good but some was totally unacceptable - shortcomings will be redressed.

In contrast, a lot of good news was reported. The hospital has entered a national competition and been judged one of the top five entries on a range of issues, the winner will be announced in a week's time.

The Hillingdon car park is to be redesigned to take more cars, to reduce the mounting queues. very good news!

The Trust is achieving its financial targets and it hopes to achieve efficiency savings in excess of the 3.5% in-year savings it is required to make. The Annual Audit found the Trust adequate on all financial factors and above average on some.

Its relationship with Hillingdon Primary Care Trust has improved - a matter of great importance to them both.

Interestingly, it was noted that up to 20% of the population now has disabilities of various kinds but it is not up to the patient to make adjustments - it is the responsibility of the Trust to do so. The Hillingdon population includes 20.9% black and ethnic minority people, 19% of schoolchildren have special needs, 36,000 people have a limiting long-term illness and 18,000 have poor health.

Joan Davis

North West London Hospitals Trust Board, November 2006

This trust manages Northwick Park and Central Middlesex hospitals.

Its November Board Meeting included a lot of important but not very exciting items, such as the formal adoption of the 'Risk Management Strategy' and a new version of the 'Serious Untoward Incident' policy basically how to avoid trouble and what to do if something does go seriously wrong. The reason for such policies is summed up by the Boy Scouts' motto of 'Be Prepared'.

On the financial side, the recovery from a big deficit is well under way, next year the Trust expects to be in balance for the year and in the following year it is hoped that the accumulated debt can be cleared.

Hospitals learn from each other. About a year ago there was a serious outbreak of infection at Stoke Mandeville and the Health Care Commission's report has been circulated widely, for hospitals to see how they would cope with a similar incident and what can be done to avoid such an occurrence. We had a good presentation from the Director of Infection Control on the Trust's readiness to meet such challenges.

Paul Samet and Owen Cock