Issue - meetings

Report attached.

A director of Healthwatch Havering advised that recommendations made by Healthwatch following a previous enter and view visit to the A & E and Urgent Treatment Centres at Queen’s Hospital had not yet been implemented by BHRUT. It was accepted however that the operator of these areas had encountered a very heavy demand for services during this period.

A numbered ticket machine had not yet been installed in the waiting area although recent discussions with the operator had that this could be counter-productive as medical need would mean patients were not dealt with in exact order of arrival.

There had been a large rise in attendances at A & E compared to the previous year it was felt that as much as 70% of attendances at A & E did not need to be treated there. Healthwatch remained of the view that there was insufficient waiting space in the public areas.

It was noted that a new contract for running the Urgent Treatment Centres at Queen’s Hospital and Harold Wood Polyclinic had been awarded with a commencement dare of 1 July 2020. This had been won by the North East London NHS Foundation Trust and the Partnership of East London Collectives (PELC) and would mean the same management would be responsible for all local Urgent Treatment Centres. It was suggested that a representative of the new management could be invited to a future meeting of the Sub-Committee.

It was accepted that Queen’s Hospital was a Private Finance Initiative and physical changes could therefore take a long time to implement. Members felt it was important that residents were made aware of alternative to A & E and that perhaps Living magazine or the council’s website could be used to assist with this.