Have your say

[lettie]

You may be aware via the local press that some major changes are afoot in the way that hospital services are provided locally. There are 2 service options to choose from....option A and option B. Option A will see all emergency, high risk and intensive care services moving to Burnley, option B will have those services at Blackburn. The site which does not have the high risk services will continue to provide elective surgery, minor injuries treatment, outpatients etc. This will also hit the maternity services with low risk care at one site and high risk at another. The high risk care for maternity is proposed as being at the hospital with no intensive care unit which does not make any sense.

Imagine this....... you are hit by a car in Blackburn centre whilst shopping and are obviously in a critical condition. Currently, you are scooped up by an ambulance and driven up the road to BRI. In July you will be taken to RBH (Royal Blackburn Hospital now Queens Park), a mere stones throw away from your accident. If the powers that be get their way, you could end up being driven 13 miles away to Burnley or even Preston in order to receive emergency care. The same scenario would apply also to the people of Burnley.

Local people are being invited to have their say about the forthcoming changes. The changes are designed to:-
provide safer services (I don't see how),
offer more choice (nice try, but I'm not buying it),
provide more local services (yes because 13 miles away is really local), quicker treatment times (errrrr......how exactly?)
be more cost effective (that's more like it.........money!!!!)

People are being invited to put forward their comments (I think I have made my opinion quite clear... ) The only way to provide good service and choice locally is to keep services at both sites. Evidently this is an option which they have not thought of.......

I have filled out my form and sent it in, but you can make your views known online by e mailing [email protected]

More info about the services can be found at www.eastlancs.nhs.uk

The resulting changes are probably a forgone conclusion but the service package that I recommend is option B... Keep services at Blackburn with high risk maternity care and ICU on the same site.... The people of Burnley have made their feelings very clear both on the news and in the press. The people of Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley have so far been slow to respond...... We have until July..

[jambutty]

I assume that this proposed exercise in stupidity is yet another attempt to spend less on the NHS so that the government can spend more on illegal wars, building follies and generally wasting our taxes etc.

I have just completed the feedback form with my blunt thoughts on the issue. Blackburn and Burnley to have their own fully functioning hospitals. Many thanks!

The reason why the people of Blackburn haven’t responded in droves is simple. Half of them can’t read English and I don’t suppose the details have been published in Urdu yet.

I’m not sure if I’ve done it right but you have some Karma lettie.

[lettie]

Thanks for the karma Jambutty, I have received it.

According to our union rep responses sent to the local PCT will then be forwarded to a central centre and processed, so this is not an issue which is being dealt with locally. These changes are happening countrywide and are part of the government's agenda to increase choice (so they would have us believe). What this will do in reality is decrease choice and centralise services. It would not be so bad if the public transport infrastructure was good and reliable in this country, but we all know that it is not. For most staff working in Blackburn hospitals it is impossible to get public transport to those hospitals in order to do and early shift on a Sunday or Bank Holiday. Imagine having to travel outside of your local area for treatment or visiting.

The powers that be will have us believe that the proposed changes are for our convenience. We must all remember that the first three letters of convenience are con......

[Ber999T]

All your points are very well put Lettie.

Just a little side line to your thread but did you know that as of 1st July Lancashire Ambulance Service NHS Trust goes and is to be replaced with the North West Regional Ambulance Service.

Management have stated, both verbally and in written forms, that Ambulances will serve thier local communities!

Burnley send patinets to Manchester Royal for VQ scans when they need to investagate for PE's

Hmmmmmmmmm I can see control at whereever it is seeing an ambulance clearing at a hospital in Manchester and a job comes in they are not going to be bothered that the crew have
1) little or no knowledege of the area,
2) will not be aware of the local differences in how that coumminty works, 3) if there is use or fire arms in that area

If you call for an Ambulance fron 01/07/2006 please make sure that someone is looking out for it jst in case it is a crew that has come from another area.

[Debbie J]

There you go Lettie I have sent my email. I hope they wont be too offended by the term 'money grabbing skinflints'

[lettie]

Originally Posted by Ber999T

Hmmmmmmmmm I can see control at whereever it is seeing an ambulance clearing at a hospital in Manchester and a job comes in they are not going to be bothered that the crew have
1) little or no knowledege of the area,
2) will not be aware of the local differences in how that coumminty works, 3) if there is use or fire arms in that area

If you call for an Ambulance fron 01/07/2006 please make sure that someone is looking out for it jst in case it is a crew that has come from another area.

So not only can you be sent on jobs just about anywhere, but safety of the crews are also compromised by being in an unknown area, along with safety of the public due to possible delays because the Ambulance crew are lost.... It beggars belief..

[lettie]

You may be aware that the people of Burnley are converging on parliament today with a petition to keep their services local... Where are the people of Blackburn, Hyndburn and Ribble Valley???? if you have not already given your opinion of what you want from your hospital services then please do so by clicking the link in the first post of this thread. You have until the beginning of July to have your say, then the comments go for processing...

[Madhatter]

Depends what you mean by a fully functioning hospital, from what you've said both hospitals will still be fully functional. They'll still have A&E won't they?
just that one will specialise in intensive care, one high risk care maternity.
If your losing your A&E then thats wrong. The area is too large to have only one A&E.

[Ber999T]

As well as the "Down sizing" of an A&E, either BGH or BRI (RBI soon) there are rumours abound that other A&E's in the area are to be "down sized or CLOSED!!!"

Airedale (nearest A&E BRADFORD)
Rochdale (Oldaham)
Fairfield covering Bury (either North Manchester or Oldham)

or of course local crews may feel the need to stay near home and take to The Royal Blackburn, so apart from

Blackburn with Darwen,
Hyndburn,
Ribble Valley
you could end up with ppl from
Rossendale Valley,
Burnley,
Pendle,
Barnoldswick
Nelson
Bacup
Rawtenstall

and anywhere in between. Is that A&E Dept going to be able to cope????????????

PLEASE NOTE I SAY A RUMOUR ONLY

[Margaret Pilkington]

I think one of the reasons why so few people have shown any interest in this subject is because they believe that they have NO choice...that what is seen to be the most cost effective (NOT, necessarily what the local poulation want) will be foisted on us whatever option we are seen to choose.
In effect this is just a 'paper' exercise...and lip service to public consultation.
If you ask the people of Burnley what they want, they will tell you that they want their own intensive care services and their own A&E services......and the people of Blackburn and Hyndburn will also say the same....but it is perfectly clear that someone is going to be disappointed......and sadly it is all down to hard cash. Wait until there is the first death due to having to be transported 13 miles, and see if a grieving family can be fobbed off...or will they sue?

[Madhatter]

They both need a full A&E department, the areas are to big to get rid of one. EACH major town that has a hospital needs A&E.

[Gayle]

The reason that I, and probably a lot of other people, didn't comment or complete the forms was because I didn't understand the literature that they sent out.

I think people were confused by the apparent similarities between the two choices. I read in the paper tonight that the consultation is going to be investigated as it is most probably a flawed consultation - sounds about right to me.

[Margaret Pilkington]

The bureaucrats are not giving us what we NEED. They are giving us the options for what THEY think we should have. It doesn't really matter what we say in our response to the so called consultation process. In fact the options did not constitute a choice at all. They were both unacceptable to some part of the geographical area that they are supposed to serve.

[WillowTheWhisp]

I think that both hopitals should have a full A&E but when it all comes down to cost it's people's lives they are messing about with. I am totally disillusioned with hospitals at present, not the staff of them but the way they are run.

[lettie]

Yes, it is a paper exercise and probably a forgone conclusion except that the powers that be are pretending it's not. It all boils down to cash and we should have all of our current services at both sites. There is no point having an A&E at both sites if only one of them has a fully functioning ICU. There is no point having high risk maternity patients on a site with no ICU. Having all services at both sites is in my opinion the only safe option, unfortunately it is not the 'money' option. This leads to the question: how much is a life worth?

As payers of NI and tax, we pay for these services and I do not believe for a minute that all of us will get the best possible services by splitting them between the 2 sites. I have had my say on the consultation papers and have gone for option B with added comments and arguments for keeping services as they are. At least I have the satisfaction of knowing that when the sh1t hits the fan (and it will), I can sit back and say 'I told you so.'