DECISION: Burnley's A&E to close to the seriously injured (Pendle Liberal Democrats)

Pendle Liberal Democrats <info@pendlelibdems.org.uk>

DECISION: Burnley's A&E to close to the seriously injured

September 21, 2006 5:47 PM

Health bosses met in Clayton-le-Moors today to agree the closure of Burnley General Hospital's A&E Department to the most seriously injured patients.

Speaking at the meeting on behalf of Liberal Democrats, Darren Reynolds said, "This is a dark day for Burnley and Pendle. The main concern is and always has been the transfer of critically ill patients from Burnley and Pendle to Blackburn. It is obvious that more people are going to die.

"But I think that the director of public health was very honest. He pointed out that as he's not a politician, he can't say whether he

thinks the government is mismanaging the NHS. As you can understand for a man in his position, he couldn't say that he thinks they've botched PFI funding of hospitals, that the new GP and consultants' contract is a disaster, or that the new computer systems are late and don't work properly.

"The fact is that the Trust can't afford to buy the best equipment for Burnley General, and can't recruit sufficiently experienced and qualified clinicians. So under the circumstances, the decision is right, because there's no point taking patients to Burnley if there just aren't the facilities to treat people.

"We were told in the meeting that two thirds of people support change. That is a lie. Even though the form had only options A and B on it, more than half of people either didn't express a preference, or wrote 'neither' on the form.

"Kitty Ussher is the one person who can get this change stopped. She's a Labour MP and is good friends with Patricia Hewitt. She is the person in the best placed to do something for us, and it is very disappointing that she is not here at the meeting. I don't suppose we should expect Gordon Prentice to show up, but that doesn't make it any less disappointing. No doubt they will both give us an update via the radio."

Residents and service users at the meeting also expressed concerns about transport. There are worries that patients will find it difficult to travel between the two sites, and that public transport is inadequate, with one health boss on the board declaring that public transport in the area was "crap".

Darren Reynolds said, "If these changes are going to be made, we need assurances from Labour's County Councillors about transport. But where were they?"