JOHN LISTER
Socialist Alliance Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Oxford East. (www.oxfordsocialists.org.uk)
Press Release
Immediate Release: Friday Feb 23
"Short-sighted" bed cuts worsen Oxford A&E crisis
Oxford’s Radcliffe Hospitals Trust has hit national headlines for the wrong reasons this week, as a leaked internal report in the authoritative management magazine Health Service Journal (Feb 22) makes scathing criticisms of its Accident and Emergency services.
The action plan, drawn up by the Trust, dated February 18, listed a series of problems, among which were:
- "No overall clinical vision for emergency services"
- The use of the medical assessment unit as an admissions ward
- Lack of capacity meaning that the A&E department regularly reaches its full capacity by the middle of Monday morning
- Demoralisation and loss of vital staff
But while the Trust appears to carry much of the blame for the crisis at the busy A&E department, the Health Authority too must accept a major share of the responsibility, says John Lister, Socialist Alliance candidate for Oxford East, himself a campaigner for the NHS.
He said:
"It’s clear that a central factor adding pressure to the department has been the controversial, short-sighted closure of over 50 beds in community hospitals, leaving fewer options for the care of frail older patients.
"This is precisely what we warned would happen when the Save Oxfordshire’s Community Hospitals and Services campaign tried to stop the Health Authority closing beds in well-loved local hospitals. Even then, A&E beds were running at or above 100% capacity. Since then things have gone from bad to worse.
"To put things right at the John Radcliffe, treat patients properly and win back the confidence of staff we need more front-line acute beds – and the reopening of more beds in the community hospitals for people who need less intensive levels of care."
DOWNLOAD a summary version of the report Red Alert, challenging the closures of community hospitals and beds produced for the Save Oxfordshire’s Community Hospitals and Services campaign (and written by John Lister).
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