28 September 2005
A leaked memo from West Hertfordshire Hospital Trust confirms that at Watford General Hospital A&E department there were no beds available.
The memo dated 12th July 2005 was issued to all GP’s. District Nurses, PCT’s and Intermediate Care facilities and was headed ‘Emergency Pressure Alert’. The document was headed “Emergency Pressures Alert: Watford General Hospital” and said
“Dear Colleague, This is to advise you that Watford General Hospital Is continuing to experience extreme pressure. The pressure to admit a higher than average number of patients has been consistently high over recent days. This means that the majority of patients in hospital beds are acutely ill, with very few identified discharges or transfers today. An emergency pressures alert is called when there is no bed available for the next patient accepted for assessment in A&E, now or in the near future. Your cooperation would be greatly appreciated. Would you please advise your General Practitioners of this and ask them to be aware that: 1) All routine elective surgery is under review. 2) Patients are waiting in A&E and patients may experience delays in admission. The Chief Executive of the acute Trust and Medical Director are aware of the situation. Date: Tuesday 12th July 3005 Time: 1.00pm”
Mike Penning, MP for Hemel Hempstead, to whom the document was leaked said
“This document was handed to me by people who care passionately about both Hemel and Watford Hospitals and I thank them. I was horrified to learn that this July 12th warning is not an isolated incident with similar warnings being issued on 19th, 25th and 26th July. The document exposes the dangers of transferring acute services from Hemel hospital to Watford. If Watford can’t cope now the dangers of imposing an even greater burden on them are obvious for everyone to see and proves once and for all that the plans to run down Hemel are not clinically viable and are purely a panic cost cutting exercise.”
David Gauke, MP for South West Hertfordshire added:
“I am deeply worried that Watford Hospital clearly are struggling to cope now, and I call upon the Hospital Trust to stop the transfer of services from Hemel. How on earth can Watford cope with a substantial influx of patients currently served at Hemel?”
The memo dated 12th July 2005 was issued to all GP’s. District Nurses, PCT’s and Intermediate Care facilities and was headed ‘Emergency Pressure Alert’. The document was headed “Emergency Pressures Alert: Watford General Hospital” and said
“Dear Colleague, This is to advise you that Watford General Hospital Is continuing to experience extreme pressure. The pressure to admit a higher than average number of patients has been consistently high over recent days. This means that the majority of patients in hospital beds are acutely ill, with very few identified discharges or transfers today. An emergency pressures alert is called when there is no bed available for the next patient accepted for assessment in A&E, now or in the near future. Your cooperation would be greatly appreciated. Would you please advise your General Practitioners of this and ask them to be aware that: 1) All routine elective surgery is under review. 2) Patients are waiting in A&E and patients may experience delays in admission. The Chief Executive of the acute Trust and Medical Director are aware of the situation. Date: Tuesday 12th July 3005 Time: 1.00pm”
Mike Penning, MP for Hemel Hempstead, to whom the document was leaked said
“This document was handed to me by people who care passionately about both Hemel and Watford Hospitals and I thank them. I was horrified to learn that this July 12th warning is not an isolated incident with similar warnings being issued on 19th, 25th and 26th July. The document exposes the dangers of transferring acute services from Hemel hospital to Watford. If Watford can’t cope now the dangers of imposing an even greater burden on them are obvious for everyone to see and proves once and for all that the plans to run down Hemel are not clinically viable and are purely a panic cost cutting exercise.”
David Gauke, MP for South West Hertfordshire added:
“I am deeply worried that Watford Hospital clearly are struggling to cope now, and I call upon the Hospital Trust to stop the transfer of services from Hemel. How on earth can Watford cope with a substantial influx of patients currently served at Hemel?”