Amicus News Press Release Supported by Save Bridlington Hospital Action Group |
20 October 2006 Amicus union is outraged that the Scarborough and NE Yorkshire Health Care NHS Trust is planning to remove emergency services from Bridlington Hospital by the back door which the union believes will undermine patient care and risk lives. Amicus believes that the Scarborough and NE Yorkshire Health Care NHS Trust is planning to downgrade Bridlington Hospital through the back door without any public consultation which is a requirement. The Chief Executive, Iain McInnes has stated that, the hospital is not well catered to cope with cardiac medical emergencies, instead he is recommending that patients requiring emergency treatment are redirected to Scarborough or Hull hospitals. This is despite that fact that Bridlington Hospital handles 4000 acute medical conditions which include chest pains, heart attacks and breathing problems. Bridlington currently handles more cardiac arrest cases than Scarborough. Scarborough is half an hour away from Bridlington Hospital and Hull is 1 hour away. During the holidays the traffic is extremely heavy on the way into Scarborough and in the winter the road is often closed. Patients living close to Bridlington requiring emergency care will be put at risk as they will have to travel further to receive medical treatment. Amicus Regional Officer, Terry Cunnliffe says, "Is the Chief executive suggesting that if a patient suffers a heart attack in the Bridlington Hospital car park they would have to be transferred to Hull or Scarborough? We are outraged that Bridlington Hospital is being downgraded through the back door without any public consultation. Bridlington is a fully equipped modern hospital which handles 4000 acute medical conditions a year. There is no rational reason why Bridlington Hospital should be downgraded. We are calling for an immediate meeting with Scarborough and NE Yorkshire Health Care NHS Trust and we will do what it takes to get this decision reversed." ENDS Contact Ciaran Naidoo 07768 931 315 Our group fully support this release; we have been stating this for some time.......Action is needed United we stand, divided we lose the Bridlington Hospital
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