Queen’s Hospital A&E dept. Credit: BHRUT
(Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Sebastian Mann)
The Romford hospital saw its busiest month in December, with almost 31,000 patients admitted.
When the department was built two decades ago, it was designed with a daily capacity of 325 patients.
Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT) says it now sees up to 750 patients admitted – double the initial limit.
Some 752 patients came to Queen’s Hospital needing emergency care on a single day in December, according to the trust. It also handles around 100 ambulance arrivals every day.
BHRUT chief executive Matthew Trainer said that, this month, staff were tending to up to 50 patients in the hospitals’ corridors each day, after a “particularly bad winter”.
The cost of additional staff to meet the levels of care needed was costing the trust £100,000 a month, he added.
He said: “This [situation] is bad for patients and their families, and for our staff.”
He said the £35m would fix the department’s “inadequate” layout, improve patient care and working conditions, and “end the indignity of corridor care”.
More than £22bn was put aside for the NHS in October’s Autumn Budget, the first delivered by a Labour government in 15 years.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said it would help “fix the foundations” but warned it will “take time to turn the situation around”.
However, plans to rebuild and improve 40 other hospitals across the UK – under the Conservatives’ New Hospitals Programme – were put on hold indefinitely in July. The scheme did not include Queen’s Hospital.
Streeting later said he was committed to rebuilding nearby Whipps Cross Hospital, but the Tories’ funding plan had been a “work of fiction”.
The campaign has been backed by Conservative and Labour MPs across east London, who said there was a “desperate need” to improve the facility.
Andrew Rosindell, the Tory MP for Romford, said: “On the many visits that I have made to the hospital in my capacity as the MP for Romford, I have seen firsthand the lifesaving work of the team at Queen’s, but I’m afraid that the resources are simply not there to meet ever-increasing demand.
“This initiative is crucial for ensuring that our community receives the highest standard of emergency care when we need it most. I urge everyone from our region to join us in this campaign and show their support for this vital cause.”
Labour MP Margaret Mullane, representing Dagenham and Rainham, said: “There is a desperate need to expand the capacity of the A&E department at Queen’s Hospital.
“The staff are amazing – they go above and beyond to deliver the best care they can, but Queen’s Hospital was only designed with a capacity in A&E for around 300 patients a day.”
Meanwhile, Julia Lopez, the MP for Hornchurch and Upminster, said the redevelopment had been made possible after some services were from the hospital into the new £17m St. George’s Health and Wellbeing Hub in Hornchurch.
The trust has been pushing for the £35m since April last year, when it was rated one of the worst in the country for A&E performance.
In December, 30,834 patients were admitted to the two hospitals overseen by BHRUT. That was the second highest rate in the capital, behind the 45,008 admitted to the five overseen by Barts Health.
