Joan Ryan MP Calls on Government to Address Crisis in Enfield's NHS

AVRUPA TIMES (LONDON)-Joan Ryan MP has urged the Government to take immediate steps to address the serious problems facing accident and emergency care in Enfield, following the news that that the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has ordered the North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust _“to significantly improve the treatment of patients attending the emergency department” _at the Hospital in Edmonton.

In a letter to the Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt MP, Joan has requested that he provides reassurances to her constituents, who use the hospital, _“that they will be given the safe and effective emergency care to which they are entitled.” _

Following the Government’s decision to close Chase Farm Hospital’s A&E unit in 2013, local casualty departments – at Barnet Hospital and North Middlesex University Hospital, in particular – have been under great pressure. The latest A&E Attendances and Emergency Admissions figures for March 2016 show that only 83% of patients attending Barnet Hospital’s A&E are treated or admitted within 4 hours and a shockingly low 68% of patients are seen within the same period at North Middlesex University Hospital – the NHS target is for 95% of patients to wait no more than 4 hours from the time of arrival.

North Middlesex University Hospital Trust has been given to the 26th August 2016 to make improvements and the CQC will be publishing a full report of its findings in due course.

JOAN RYAN MP, LABOUR’S MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT FOR ENFIELD NORTH, SAID:

_“Constituents must have full confidence in the standard of care they would receive in an emergency, so the CQC’s announcement is a very worrying development._

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_I have been raising concerns about the sustainability of our local health services since I was elected in May last year and the Government needs to get its act together, work with the leadership of North Middlesex University Hospital Trust and provide better support to the NHS in Enfield.”  _