Ilford South Labour Party

Mike Gapes MP has welcomed a study published today which shows that patients lives are put at risk if they have to travel further to Hospital Accident and Emergency Departments.

This important research which is based on a study of 10,000 patients by a team at Sheffield University was funded by the Department of Health is published in the Emergency Medicine Journal and reported in the national press.

Mike Gapes said “This report makes the case for keeping the Accident and Emergency Department at King George Hospital Ilford and not forcing my constituents in Ilford South to have longer journeys in congested traffic to Queens Hospital Romford or Whipps Cross Leytonstone. I accept that there may be cases where some people are so badly injured or ill that they must go to the specialist hospital further away but in other cases such as people with breathing difficulties as this report shows the risks of patients dying in transit are significantly increased by longer journeys. This report should be required reading by all those NHS managers involved in the “Fit For the Future” exercise. It could be the final nail in the coffin of the mad plan known as Option Four to close the A&E at KGH”

For Further information contact Mike Gapes MP at gapesm@parliament.uk, ring 020 7219 6485 or visit www.mikegapes.org.uk