16 December - Queen Mary’s A&E cut, Queen Elizabeth’s A&E cut off
Today’s blog is effectively given over to John Hemming-Clark who runs the
‘Independents to save Queen Mary’s Hospital’
campaign. He makes this announcement…
ITV’s London Tonight will be at Queen Mary’s Hospital tomorrow morning to
interview me about the closures of A&E and maternity etc. especially in the wake of the
closure of the Princess Royal University Hospital, Farnborough this week as a result of the
norovirus outbreak and the implications that this has for emergency healthcare in our area.
Please can you come down to Queen Mary’s, Sidcup tomorrow at
11.15am and I will meet you with a reporter/cameraman at the entrance to the
hospital. I need supporters but especially people who will be able to give
reports of how the closures are affecting them.
I need your support - please come if you are able.
Last Tuesday I needed to drive to East Ham but found the Blackwall Tunnel closed.
The roads were gridlocked for several miles around. I thought I would be clever and loop back
home via minor roads that would take me alongside Queen Elizabeth Hospital - big mistake.
It took 27 minutes to get past the traffic lights at the junction of Ha Ha and Stadium
Roads a few yards from Q.E.H. The hospital was effectively cut off. No ambulances went by
in the whole of the time I was stuck there. Does that mean that A&E at Q.E.H. is
likely to be a problem whenever we get a tunnel closure? It’s not exactly a rare
occurrence.