West Cornwall Hospital is this the end?

[Halfhidden]

Once again from the murky shadows steps the Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust with plans to finish off West Cornwall Hospital and its accident and emergency department.
A crazy plan to turn the hospital into a “community style hospital” and have doctor cover from 9am till 11pm is closure through the back door.
We had this before... most of you will remember the march that took place through Penzance to protest against the closure of the accident and emergency department. You might remember that the trust told us that Penzance had never had and A&E, only a minor injuries department. Mind you they soon changed their minds when they saw how people felt in our town.
West Cornwall Hospital serves a much wider community than just Penzance. Those who live in Sennen, St Just, St Buryan, Pendeen and so on have quite a distance to travel already. Asking them to travel yet further is unacceptable.
What can be done? Do we have any legal rights to challenge this new decision?

WEST Cornwall Hospital is being eroded and rebranded as a community hospital in a betrayal of earlier promises, according to health campaigners.
This week, the Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust published its strategy for health services in the county, which stated there would no longer be a 24-hour doctor-led casualty service in West Cornwall.
Instead, the five-year plan outlines proposals for the Penzance hospital to be an "acute diagnostic and treatment" centre in the future.
Specialist
An experienced doctor will only be on site at the hospital between 9am and 11pm.


"Outside these hours the first point of contact is a nurse practitioner supported by telephone advice from the specialist doctors at the emergency department at RCH," the Clinical Development Plan states. Reports the Cornishman Newspaper

 

[treeve]

Not one of the 'people in charge' are worthy of respect; they are all out to demolish and to destroy our way of life; it is all being thrown away to justify their own power and to line their pockets. I am disgusted with the lot of them - democracy, you have got to be joking, we have returned to the early days of the monarchy, where we are all damned or thrown in dungeon for having a mind of our own.

 

[msp14]

Public meetings in Penzance

M::6:I can`t understand the people of Penzance anymore.
When there is a meeting for discussion about the Battery Rocks site ST. Johns Hall is so packed that people are queuing outside to get in and have their say.
But, when there is a meeting about the future of West Cornwall Hospital there are plenty of empty seats.
It is my opinion that the people of Penzance should get their priorities in the right order.
We can do without Battery Rocks but, we can`t do without our local hospital.(Not that i want to see Battery Rocks changed in any way).

 

[treeve]

There is a difference in fact .. there is but ONE Penzance Harbour and it is under threat from apparently intelligent caring people who are purportedly representing the needs and wishes of Penzance and The Isles of Scilly, yet in the process are seeking to destroy architectural heritage, as well as in the process of affecting local business to great detriment.
Despite the worries over West Cornwall Hospital, that is a National Problem, engendered by mismanagement and disinterest in people as sourced in a gross division into separate Trusts and the end results of self-determination and the rise of the individual instead of the unified whole. However, even IF the hospital were to close, there are elements in play that mean that there will be no loss to the public in general, as there will always be a hospital somewhere and one that can be reached. The loss that Penzance would receive is one of ready access to what was a wonderful Philanthropic action for the People of Penzance, when they mattered.
There has already been a proposal and a protest, and it is unfortunately becoming very clear that the machine intends to continue in its backward step, to the disadvantage of this area. Penwith NEEDS such a hospital in my opinion, it is too far from Truro.
There are many and massive proposals under discussion which will have far reaching implications for all of us in the county and that includes the nurses and doctors that care for the patients and the ambulance services ... It is ALL under threat.
Regrettably no longer do we hear the genuine utterance of the word SERVICE. It all has to be run under the guise of a business and has to pay its way. The system used to be run under the flag of social advancement and was supported by a staff of self-sacrificing angels.
The end result is a top heavy management with underpaid, overworked, very well trained and educated, tired and stressed nurses. As much as I dread the day of the loss of any hospital, I would rather have what is available to be run under other conditions than those.
I suspect the public are weathered down by the fact that we can no longer trust the words of those in high places, that we are no longer treated by The National Health but by a set of bureaucrats who have other agendas in mind. If you feel differently - then let us hear it.

 

[msp14]

Re:Hospital and Battery Rocks.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, iv`e given mine and you have given yours.

 

[Halfhidden]

My understanding is that the meeting is at St Johns Hall this coming Friday at 7.30pm. What meeting did you attend Mark64.
I would like to have contact with the friends of West Cornwall Hospital or any other group that needs our help...
I have scheduled a reminder for members about the meeting that is due to go out sometime this evening.

 

[Halfhidden]

@Mark64 treeve wasn't saying that he didn't object to the thread to the hospital... he was pointing out the differences between the two plights. He was saying how trusts erode hospitals like ours and despite our best efforts...are hell bent on doing so.
Obviously we all need to unite and show these trust that they are working for the people.
Hope that sorts out any misunderstanding.

 

[treeve]

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, iv`e given mine and you have given yours.

Not sure exactly where 'my opinion' differs from yours.
I agree with you, however I do not agree with either Cornwall County or Royal Cornwall Hospital Trust in their affirmed routes.
I was merely discussing why a meeting was not attended.

 

[Halfhidden]

Ok Sparky and I attended the public meeting held at St Johns Hall last night. The meeting started at the correct time and was introduced by MP Andrew George.
One major criticism I have of St Johns Hall and this particular meeting was the lack of a conductive hearing loop. Anyone with a hearing aid would find it very hard to understand what's going on and what's being said; shameful when you consider that this meeting was held by the health care trust.
Anyway, after a twenty minute opening speech about how wonderful Treliske is and that from survey's that the trust has conducted, most operations were performed during the daylight hours. Rocket science! I bet none of you knew that fact did you.
Anyway, The next speaker stood up and delivered his piece on how he is going to transform West Cornwall Hospital into a specialist care unit.
The speaker took 14 minutes to tell us what services were already being used at WCH, and a further 4 minutes to tell us what services will be available from 2010.
One of those services to be "Re modelled" will be the "Casualty" department. According to their survey (they didn't go into detail about how this was conducted or for how long) they claimed that only 6 patients were seen between the hours of 11pm and 9 am and therefore concluded that a nurse practitioner would be the best solution for WCH.
That means that the casualty department will have a shared doctor cover between the hours of 9am and 11pm after that it's a nurse I'm afraid. The nurse he or she will have to phone the A&E at Treliske I'm they aren't qualified to diagnose your problem (leaving room for misdiagnosis if the nurse fails to see symptoms that he or she isn't qualified or experienced enough to see).
So bad news for the casualty department indeed.
They went on to say that they are looking to invest into the outpatients department (about time), but it still wasn't clear about how much money will be invested and exactly what the out patients department will be covering.

All in all I found the meeting insulting. After sitting for an hour listening to corporate style dribble I'd had enough listening to, what it practically turned out to be, a seminar on how fantastic Treliske is and how much money is going to be invested in it over the coming years.
So to summarise, WCH is to turn into a St Michaels style hospital. The promised A&E will not happen and the casualty will be downgraded to nothing more than a nurse coverage at night for the 30,000 people that live in the immediate area of the hospital.
I'll highlight some of the fact in the next post.
Oh yes I would say that about 350 people attended.

Additional information.
Going through the documents available to me now I can see that the trust is working on a system that will include local surgeries. The document suggests that the GP out of hours service and the casualty department could combine efforts. If this is really the case then that's good news because the doctors out of hours service has to include a qualified GP. This would of course fill in the missing casualty doctor gap and save money for both trust and local doctors surgeries.... We would also have the night time cover as we had expected.

 

[treeve]

In bureaucracy, behaviour is a reflection of personal experience and personal opinion ... they do not listen so why should they expect anyone else to listen?
The overall impression I get is that this is a done deal, as I have suspected and said before. They are pushing the Treliske funnel. They clearly believe that anyone has access to Truro from miles away, as we can all afford taxis or we all have cars ... again their experience. Personally any patient who does not take an active and personal interest in their own plight/illness/disease and relying upon the current defective (in my opinion) diagnostic network and the future pressed and pressured network (distance and other factors come into play), will be sadly treated. This whole show is staged to demonstrate their own solidarity with each other and that they back their own scheme. This is the price paid for separate self determining trusts. This is what happens in business. Fat Cats, minions, unrelenting schemes, and bland disregard for the populous. This is all rather Orwellian and smacks of Kurt Vonnegut.
This is no more or less than I expected of 'people' that should have the care and concern for the less advantaged in their hearts instead of self-glorification to their peers.

 

[CHILLYWILLY]

Normal Service Will Be Resumed

Uf2
An 85 year old patient from west Penwith was offered an appointment at Treliske Hospital this week. Nothing strange about that? Except the appointment was for 6.40 pm in the evening. Thankfully when refused another one at West Cornwall during the day was offered and accepted. What a waste of time and money. If the original appointment had been scanned for feasibility taking into account patient age and geography this nonsense would have been realised. Surely only a machine or a moron would let this get processed.

 

[P_Trembath]

Machines can be reprogrammed.
Unfortunately, our health service is not run by machines.::4:

 

[sparky]

You may remember that Andrew394 on the 02/06/2009 had broken his leg/foot whilst at school....and upon having it plastered and waiting for a follow up appiontment....
yes you guessed it I was given Treliske....
No I said I wanted it to be here as that is where he has been treated, the receptionist replied by saying that there will be a delay upon seeing Andrew, as it will be in PZ...I said for how long will there be a delay?
she replied 6 weeks...I said what ever.....
and the appointment would be sent by post as to when attend.

the funny thing is that I had an appointment at PZ hospital for 5 weeks time which was in plenty of time for a break to heal and to have the neccasary Xrays....to confirm otherwise.

So I have have to ask myself the question why be referred to Treliske as being the first option?
my opinion....(and this is my opinion,) is it to have figures on those who attend at Treliske and not those who attend Pz because they simply are not being offered an appointment at Pz?

I look forward to any comment...good or bad!

 

[treeve]

The Trust appears to have a unified list, which takes no regard for distance or access for individual, and neither do the lists incorporate for length of stay in relation to method of getting home for the patient. It disregards the patient's needs or the family's needs. Organisation - you have to be joking, you are a number and if you fit the list you are in. The matter of healing process neither comes into the discussion. I know, it happened five years ago and after with my wife. It also happened with myself ... I was unable to walk with any certainty, yet my appointment was with Prof Wolff and others at St Austell. I had to catch a number of buses to get there, and there was a chivvying about the timing of my arrival and the need for Xrays which held them up at leaving time. On top of that I was informed by the two 'specialist' a pack of idiotic nonsense, which I found to be quite offensive and an insult to my experience and knowledge. I was informed for example that I had had rheumatoid arthritis which must have gone away ... even I know that is impossible even then. The fact of the matter was that I was informed that I could not be seen at Penzance, yet found out afterwards that Penzance also had a musculoskeletal expert on hand. After complaining bitterly about my treatment in appointment and in 'service' I had that appointment in Penzance, in the meantime, I had made my own research and found a cause AND a solution. What I discovered as far as the Trust was concerned was that I did not amount to a hill of beans to them, promises were not forthcoming and I received insults ... all I wanted to do was to get better. We are NOT considered in the equation, so when I hear of your treatment and the response to Andrew's situation, it simply fits the parameters already defined in my mind and memories. If you are looking for Care, forget it.