Earlier this year Julia Lopez MP met with the Chief Executive of BHRUT, the hospital trust which runs Queen’s Hospital, and PELC, the health body responsible for Urgent Treatment Centres (UTC) including the UTC in Queen’s hospital, to discuss improvements for those attending the hospital for minor injuries and ailments. You can find a summary of these discussions at:
https://www.julialopez.co.uk/news/hornchurch-vision-july-2022
Since then, Julia had been contacted by a number of constituents who had expressed concerns at their experiences in the Majors A and B wards managed by Queen’s hospital. Julia therefore arranged to meet again with the hospital Chief Executive yesterday to personally relay her constituents’ experiences and to seek an update on further changes to be made to the Emergency Department.
After addressing specific concerns highlighted by constituents, the Chief Executive outlined a number of forthcoming changes to the operation of Emergency Care that are intended to reduce wait times for patients and to improve their overall care experience. This includes, the establishment of a Same Day Emergency Care facility which will provide direct access to specialty services without the requirement of a referral or attendance within the Emergency Department. There will also be a greater integration of primary care services at the Emergency Department and Urgent Treatment Centre, allowing attending patients that do not require immediate assistance to be given a same day appointment with a GP at a specified time, allowing them to leave the premises and return at their appointment time.
In addition to the above changes to service delivery, the Trust is also in the process of recruiting additional clinical staff to the Emergency Department and establishing a joint nursing bank with Barts, allowing additional resources to be called upon when necessary.
Julia will continue to monitor constituent feedback on health services and engage with all relevant health authorities to seek further improvements to local services.
