A VETERAN community campaigner has added to a growing wave of criticism over planned changes to health service provision in Redbridge - which would see the borough's only A&E and maternity units closed down.
Helen Zammett, chair of the Counties Residents Association (CRA) - who helped lead battles to protect Wanstead Police Station and the site of the former Chepstow house - has released a briefing statement criticising the proposals put forward by the Health for North East London review which would rob King George Hospital of the two key departments.
In the release, Ms Zammett, of Gloucester Road, Wanstead, said closing the A&E would mean many more of the borough's residents having to rely on services at Whipps Cross instead, putting the hospital under added pressure and causing big increases in journey times.
She also questioned the wisdom of shutting the hospital's maternity unit, quoting a report by the trust that runs it which describes the unit (combined with that at Queen's Hospital in Romford) as "the busiest" in London - with King George alone seeing 3,500 deliveries a year.
She said: "The consultation document says that no ambulance journey will be lengthened by more than 10 mins.
"A heart attack needs to be treated within 20 mins.
"This means that many residents living in the west area of Ilford would go to Whipps for A&E treatment.
"Whipps A&E is already described as one of the busiest in London and in July 2009, £23,000,000 was granted to increase its A&E capacity. This is before the issues brought about in the proposals were known - or has this grant pre-empted the result of the consultation?
"One recent personal experience has shown a four hour wait each time I visited Whipps A&E on 11 and 18 December 2009.
"On the latter occasion ambulance workers were queuing in the corridor with the patients, waiting for triage, which meant they were delayed in bringing in other A&E cases."
Mrs Zammett has described much of the consultation document as 'waffle' which offers too few facts for residents to be able to answer the questionnaire properly and criticised the review for failing to include an Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA) which would look at the impact of the proposals on the community.
Her views have been echoed by Redbridge Council's Health Scrutiny Committee which voted to oppose the scheme and vowed to call on the secretary of state for health to scrap it.
The plan has also been criticised by Redbridge MPs Lee Scott and Mike Gapes who entered an early day motion in Parliament calling for it to be rejected.
For more information about the consultation, which is due to end in March, visit: healthfornel.nhs.uk
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