AN Enfield hospital is facing “very difficult” times with low staff numbers and budget cuts as the future of its services hang in the balance.

The Enfield Independent visited the A&E department at Chase Farm Hospital with Enfield North MP Nick de Bois, to see how the doctors and nurses running the 24/7 services are coping.

Mr de Bois held frank discussions with staff, on Friday, April 1, including Dr Geoff Hinchley, senior consultant in the A&E department, who said the low number of staff is a “huge” problem.

“I have spent all day trying to organise staff for tonight,” he said. “It is difficult, very difficult.”

Dr Hinchley said he has a rota to staff the department, but often finds there are not enough medical professionals to fill it which stretches those who are at work.

He put to Mr de Bois: “The question is, is the country prepared to invest to provide staff for us?”

The future of Chase Farm's 24-hour A&E department has long been a contentious issue, as health chiefs try to shut it down and locals in Enfield fight to keep it running.

The department deals with an average of 200 patients a day, according to A&E consultant Dr Turan Huseyin, with 40 per cent of patients being treated in A&E and the rest going to the on-site urgent care centre.

The hospital, in The Ridgeway, takes in around a third of its ambulance patients from Hertfordshire rather than from London Ambulance Service – a central point of Herts residents' argument that Chase Farm is not just a hospital for north London.

Mr de Bois, following his visit, said this was a “critical time” for the hospital and its services, and said the uncertainty over its future has undoubtedly exacerbated the staffing problems.

He said: “It is no surprise that there are problems recruiting staff here, because who's going to apply for a job when the future of the A&E department is in danger.

“The argument of the BEH clinical strategy is that they believe merging services overcomes operating issues.

"I don't accept that case – it ignores the demand placed on the hospital, particularly for its A&E, and the solution has to lie in getting more money to the front line and supporting critical services.”

As the future of Chase Farm continues to lie unresolved, calls are growing for a decision to protect not just the north Enfield hospital but also services at North Middlesex Hospital.

The Edmonton site continues to be in limbo along with Barnet Hospital, not knowing if it will be receiving extra income that will arrive with the health trust reconfiguration plans.

Councillor Doug Taylor, leader of Enfield Council, who is spearheading efforts to present fresh ideas for the hospitals to health secretary Andrew Lansley, has acknowledged the need for urgency, and said his team will respond ahead of the April 19 deadline to get things moving.