Rochdale Infirmary A&E to close at night

Rochdale Infirmary

Rochdale Infirmary will be closed to emergency ambulances between 6pm and 8am from 2 August 2010.

Rochdale Online understands that the decision was made by the Pennine Acute Trust in an emergency meeting last night due to staffing and recruitment problems.

This means that all ambulances will be diverted to other nearby hospitals, it is believed 70 per cent of ambulances will be diverted to Fairfield Hospital and the remaining 30 per cent to the Royal Oldham Hospital.

The Chair of Health Overview and Scrutiny, Councillor Jean Ashworth has been accused in the past for scaremongering when alerting the public to these plans.

She said: “I am so disappointed I asked before the election in May if there were any such plans to close A&E and I was told that no such proposal had been made.

“Just two weeks ago I was told that no formal consideration had been made to close A&E at the Rochdale Infirmary in the evenings.

“Now two weeks later there has been an emergency meeting to say there will be no blue light ambulance service able to access Rochdale Infirmary A&E.”

Councillor Ashworth added: “If there was a major road accident between 6pm and 8am ambulances would be diverted to the nearest A&E but who knows how long the wait will be there.

“We all know there are recruitment problems, there are recruitment problems nationwide but they (other hospitals) don’t close their A&E departments.

Councillor Ashworth concluded: “The Trust has said that this is happening in the interests of patient safety but how safe are patients if ambulances are being put on divert?”

The former MP of Rochdale, Paul Rowen told Rochdale Online: “This is very much what we predicted. I am disgusted but not surprised at the Trust and I will be taking this matter further.”

Dr Anton Sinnah, A&E consultant and clinical director of unscheduled care for Rochdale Infirmary, said: “Rochdale Infirmary emergency department is facing a significant clinical risk in its ability to continue to provide a full range of acute medical services due to the lack of senior medical cover. Our current rotas and arrangements in place to cover inpatients and new admissions have been running with vacancies and locum appointments. Current planned losses will unfortunately result in the inability of the Trust and staff to sustain 24 hour cover safely for our patients from August.”

“The Trust’s top priority is patient safety. All options have been considered and a number of actions have been taken proactively as a response to the severity and imminence of the risk, however all have been without success," added Dr Sinnah.

Pete Hinchliffe, a registered nurse and joint trade union convenor at Pennine Acute said: "This will do nothing to reassure patients and staff who are growing increasingly concerned about the future of acute health services in Rochdale.

“Morale is at an all-time low and people are worried not just about their jobs but also about the long-term survival of the Infirmary and its ability to provide an acceptable level of health care to the local population. However you look at it, this in not good news for Rochdale."

Dr Nick Dawes, local GP and medical director at NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, said: “Patient safety is the utmost importance in this decision which has not been taken lightly. It has been agreed this is the only sustainable way of providing patients with the access to safe services.”

The Deputy Leader of Rochdale Council, Councillor Ashley Dearnley said: “This is very worrying and I wish we were consulted on this. Obviously we will be raising this issue.”

The Leader of the Labour Party, Councillor Colin Lambert said: “This announcement gives little hope to the people of Rochdale about the future of other services at the Rochdale Infirmary.

"The Lib Dems in particular fought their election campaign on keeping services at the Rochdale hospital now their coalition government has backed the closure and it now appears that the coalition council in Rochdale is powerless to influence them.

“What hope is there for children and maternity services if the Rochdale coalition has no influence?”

Pennine Acute Trust had previously denied such plans:

www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/2/news-headlines/40169/leaked-letter-proves-midnight-closures-likely

Although there will not be any ambulance patients arriving overnight, the A&E department will remain open but will continue to operate throughout the night as an urgent care centre (UCC) to see people with a minor injury or illness. The UCC will be staffed by a grade doctor in emergency department overnight, with nursing support.

The decision has been made in partnership between The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Rochdale Infirmary, and the local primary care trust, NHS Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale. In the interests of patient safety both trusts have agreed to the changes which will be monitored to ensure patients are being treated appropriately. 

Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk, who before the recent election accused former MP Paul Rowen of scaremongering when he brought this to public attention, was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.

The Leader of the Council, Councillor Irene Davidson was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.