\u2018human A&E queue\u2019 demonstration on Lynn\u2019s Tuesday Market Place in October<\/a>, with hundreds urgently calling for the department to remain at the QEH – with placards stating how long it would take individuals to get to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.<\/p>\nThis morning\u2019s meeting saw the board consider evidence about changing population needs, quality and access, workforce pressures and services that are \u201cbecoming increasingly difficult to sustain\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Case for Change sets out an approach based on strong local hospitals, more care provided through community and neighbourhood services closer to where people live, and better access to specialist expertise,\u201d a NWUHG spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaternity, neonatal and children\u2019s services have been identified as requiring further detailed assessment.<\/p>\n
![\"Lesley](\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg)
Lesley Dwyer<\/p>\n
\u201cClinicians have tested scenarios in which hospital births continue at three hospitals or are provided at two or one hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n
Officials said the scenario testing did not represent a formal proposal or preferred option, and the board\u2019s agreement does not authorise the closure, relocation or reorganisation of individual services.<\/p>\n
Further assessment, involvement and formal decision-making would be required before any service changes could be agreed.<\/p>\n
Professor Lesley Dwyer, group chief executive of NWUHG, said: \u201cWe have a simple ambition: to provide better care for the people of Norfolk and Waveney, now and in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is much to be proud of across our hospitals, but we also know that we do not consistently deliver the quality of care people need.<\/p>\n
\u201cDemand is growing, people\u2019s needs are changing and some services are becoming increasingly difficult to staff and sustain.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe board has agreed that the evidence supports a case for change and that further work should now take place. This is not a decision to close or relocate individual services.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur hospitals will remain at the heart of the future. We want to build on their strengths, provide more care closer to where people live where appropriate, and ensure patients can access specialist expertise when they need it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the board meeting, North West Norfolk MP James Wild said that, while it was \u201creassuring\u201d that plans to cut A&E and intensive care at the QEH had been dropped, it was \u201cworrying\u201d that the removal of maternity services was still a possibility.<\/p>\n
North West Norfolk MP James Wild outside Lynn’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cA lack of transparency and leaked proposals around this clinical services review have caused considerable concern about the loss of services.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the beginning, I have opposed downgrading A&E at QEH and it is reassuring any plans to remove consultant-led emergency and critical care have been dropped. It was not tenable to lose such vital services for our community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the NHS mantra has been bringing care closer to patients, it is worrying the NHS Group continue to pursue proposals that could lead to the removal of maternity services at QEH.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis approach does not reflect the rurality, travel times, deprivation, and other issues in our community which must be central to any consideration of future local service provision.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis work is being driven by largely unaccountable NHS bodies and I have already raised my opposition to the loss of services in Parliament.<\/p>\n
\u201cI will continue to campaign throughout this process so that in delivering our new hospital patient interests come first.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Potential plans to close the A&E and intensive care departments at Lynn\u2019s hospital have been dropped, but its…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822319,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[102,2960,8781,229,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-822318","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-health","tag-healthcare","tag-kings-lynn","tag-politics","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822318","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822318"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822318\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822318"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822318"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822318"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}