TODAY we ask all of our readers to back us in trying to salvage one very important service at Wycombe Hospital – 24 hour urgent care seven days a week in what used to be the old accident emergency department.
As things currently stand, there will still be a GP-led unit for minor injuries and emergencies at the hospital. And this will remain even when the current plans are put in place to transfer 67 beds to Aylesbury.
However, what has not been decided is exactly how this new downgraded emergency unit will operate. Will it be 24 hours, or will it close at some point during the night? NHS officials say this is so far unresolved, although evidence has been cited that most patients use the current unit before 10pm.
There is, therefore, a very real danger of the new department being shut in the early hours of the morning. There is, of course, a certain logic to this. Why should our cash-strapped NHS have to fund GPs throughout the night to run a barely-used centre?
We reject this argument and plead with officials to retain a 24 hour service at Wycombe, even if it is felt to be uneconomic.
If they don’t, they will create a nightmare scenario in which worried patients turn up in the middle of the night to Wycombe Hospital only to find the emergency doors are shut. Yes, they can then make a formal appointment with an out-of-hours GP, or can call 999 to take them to Aylesbury – but this is no substitute for the comfort of a local emergency unit, fully-staffed and fully equipped with X-ray machines.
We fear that the absence of such a 24/7 walk-in department will result in many patients taking a risk and waiting until the next day. And, although, most of the time it will be okay, there could well be catastrophic consequences of this kind of delay.
Our health trusts have come in for heavy criticism during this ‘reconfiguration’ process for only giving the public one option during a supposed consultation.
But, unlike other proposals, the urgent care unit issue has not yet been fully worked through. So here they actually have a chance to prove their critics wrong by listening to the consultation feedback and doing what the public wants in one respect.
Your job now is to make them listen. Sign up to our petition and see if we can keep a quality 24/7 urgent care unit at Wycombe Hospital.
