Chorley A&E closure - Share your views in 3 Surveys!

 THREE LOCAL HEALTH SURVEYS

 

Copy & Paste your experiences into each of the surveys below. Just click each Logo image. A brief history of events after the A&E closure are shown at the bottom of this page which provides help and advice before you begin...

 

Share your experience of Chorley and South Ribble Hospital. Most important survey. The purpose of this survey is to see if any services have improved since the last CQC visit in 2014 where the LTH trust were rated as 'requiring improvement' in certain service areas.

Share your views on the temporary closure of Chorley Hospital's A&E. Have you or a family member have been affected by these changes, or would you like to give us feedback on the temporary closure?

Healthwatch Lancashire wants to hear stories from people in Lancashire about their views and how they have been affected by the changes at Chorley emergency department.


ADVICE/GUIDANCE Before you begin each survey...

The last CQC investigation into Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS foundation Trust was in 2014 where the trust was rated as requiring improvement at both its hospitals in Chorley & Preston.

The link below directs you to a page showing what the CQC found in 2014, and what service improvements they'll be looking at in September 2016....

BEFORE A&E CLOSURE (key CQC findings)

AFTER A&E CLOSURE in APRIL 2016

Below is a shortlist of events that occurred after the closure of Chorley and South Ribble A&E

• Lack of openness and transparency- the local Chorley MP and Council Leader barred from the system resilience group meetings where NHS service decisions (A&E closure + urgent care centre management) were being discussed. These issues affected the MP's constituents who are ALL stakeholders & patients in the NHS.
• patients turned away from Chorley urgent care centre after 8pm, told to 'get an ambulance' or go to Preston. No ambulances available due to them queuing at Preston hospital.

• APRIL 2016: Before Chorley A&E was closed there were 43 Severe handover breaches >60 min at Preston hospital. 

  MAY 2016: After Chorley A&E was closed there were 141 Severe handover breaches >60 min at Preston hospital. 

  • When the Chorley A&E closed in April, the attendances at Wigan hospital arriving by ambulance went from 14 to 83 in a few weeks. A 493% increase in patients attending Wigan hospital by ambulance!

• knock-on effect of closing the A&E at Chorley & South Ribble hospital has consequences on much wider areas such as Blackburn, Wigan, Preston and beyond as shown in the briefing on the Ambulance impact & attendance report on the CCG website .
• the Trust have censored the results of a Freedom Of Information request about their recruitment drive which has led to suspicion that the Trust may be intentionally starving Chorley hospital of doctors in a drive to ultimately close the A&E and replace it with an urgent care centre. Again, a lack of openness and transparency.
  
  Due to the A&E closure at Chorley Hospital....
• elective surgery may have to be cancelled or re-scheduled
• ambulance turnaround times at Preston hospital have increased 3-fold
• ambulance handover times at Preston hospital increased ten-fold after the Chorley A&E closure
• re-admission rates at Preston hospital will no doubt increase
• I heard there have been increase in number of doctors & nurses at Preston in an attempt to deal with overcrowding problems at Preston since the closure of the A&E at Chorley.
• I heard that there has been an increase in agency staff & accompanying rota problems
• severe decrease in quality of patient care as reported in the media since the Chorley A&E was closed
• ambulances have had to be re-directed to alternative ED sites such as Wigan and Blackburn
• Lancaster hospital has told the Lancashire teaching hospitals trust not to send Ambulances there since they cannot cope with any more excess patients, same for Wigan and Blackburn as reported in the media..
• hospital service reconfiguration plans have been published in the media, such as Chorley hospital & Preston hospital being closed and replaced with a Super-hospital, yet there has been no public consultation on this! how come the media know this but the public don't?

Get Posting into all 3 surveys, Good luck!