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Back my shake-up of hospital services (From Enfield Independent)
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Back my shake-up of hospital services
12:25pm Wednesday 3rd December 2008
IN the week that a legal bid to save service cuts at Chase Farm Hospital is launched, Enfield’s health boss says change is vital.
Stephen Conroy, 50, has become chief executive at Enfield Primary Care Trust (PCT) as it starts to pay back £18million of past overspending.
Its plans for reform of local health services also face a challenge in court.
Enfield council is seeking a judicial review into plans to replace casualty at Chase Farm Hospital, in the Ridgeway, with an urgent care unit and to move maternity consultants to Barnet.
It is the first London borough to go to the High Court over hospital changes.
On Friday Mr Conroy was confident that the PCT’s grand plan will not need the kiss of life.
He said: “It’s disappointing that the council has taken this action. We are keen to press ahead because there’s a strong case for change. It would improve services.”
The council’s case rests on the public consultation, which it says was poor.
Mr Conroy defended the plans.
He said: “We took legal advice, had the referral to the secretary of state, and the Independent Re-configuration Panel endorses the process. So we can focus on the benefits for local people.
“It might not go to a judicial review. In the meantime we will press on with our plans.”
The plans revolve around primary care with the focus on prevention, not cure.
Primary care centres, also known as neighbourhood health centres or even polyclinics, are at the heart of the new ethos.
These high street centres will house several GPs under one roof and provide services like health screening and immunisation.
Today, there are two so called neighbourhood health centres in Enfield, with plans for two more by 2011.
Mr Conroy added: “There’s no blueprint for these centres. There is tremendous support for primary care investment. I want to see a more effective service, and you get better services in new buildings.
“People say they want better appointments, longer GP surgery opening times and weekend opening. We are plotting to implement those things.”
The Save Chase Farm group opposes the changes and is furious that it has been denied a seat on the Gateway Review, which will report back in January.
Mr Conroy defended the omission. He said: “It’s a technical process about how you do it, not whether you’re going to do it. We haven’t approached any individual parties to ask them to participate.”
The most powerful figure in health in Enfield backs the controversial plans.
He said: “Services at Chase Farm should be changed because clinicians who run them say they must be.
“I would always support the clinical view. The current configuration is not sustainable.”
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Your Say Your Enfield
NrthLondon shrimper, Enfield says...
10:21am Thu 4 Dec 08
Helpful, Cheshunt says...
6:41pm Sat 6 Dec 08
Enfield Gazette 4 December Page 3.
Stephen Conroy is yet another interim Chief Executive Officer CEO of Enfield PCT. Where is the accountability for their actions when they come and go in quick succession?
The remarks by Steven Conroy on the 28thNovember I found patronising, people are cautious of change and rightly so, not to be so would be foolish.
I think it is quite untrue that all local clinicians think it is in the best interest of their patients needing major A&E ,Consultant led Maternity or Children’s services to be transferred from Chase Farm to Barnet or North Middlesex hospitals when seriously ill.
G.P’s are clearly not in favour of the centralization of their services which again means further for patients to go, where they are likely to get a less personal service.
It is not new buildings that save lives, but the care and quality, of qualified clinical staff, that makes you well. New buildings just create profits for whoever builds and supplies high cost maintenance services to them.
Of course delivering the 28 G.P’s Enfield is already short of would have been a welcomed improvement, but that hasn’t happened and isn’t proposed.
The Gateway Review, to find out if the proposals are sound is a retrograde action that should have taken place with transport provision sorted out first before the consultation took place , not to mention the finance needed.
Finally I note he states he would always support the clinical view. Shame about the patients.
Your sayYour Enfield
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dons24pelliparclose, Enfield says...
7:13pm Wed 3 Dec 08