I WRITE regarding the article in the Guardian about possible job losses at the Royal Lancaster Infirmary (RLI) which may come about as part of a drive by Morecambe Bay Hospitals Trust to save £10.7million over the next year.
I am a GP based in the South Lakes area of South Cumbria, I am born and bred in Kendal and have worked as a GP for 37 years. Any opinions expressed in this letter are entirely my own.
I feel it is my duty to bring to the attention of the
residen
ts of Lancaster and Morecambe, that not only is this threat hanging over the RLI, ie, possible job losses, but also that the RLI is soon to have to take in most of the acutely-ill medical patients who require a hospital bed from Kendal, parts of South Cumbria and the South Lakes. This is due to the fact that the Morecambe Bay Hospitals Trust Board has, following a public consultation in 2006, decided to stop, permanently, all admissions of acutely-ill medical patients into the 125 medical beds at Westmorland General Hospital in Kendal, the reason given as better clinical efficiency and safety at Lancaster.
The RLI is struggling now to find medical beds for patients from its own surrounding area, so it concerns myself and others just how it is going to cope with the not inconsiderable extra workload, that hitherto has been admitted to Westmorland General Hospital in Kendal since the beginning of the NHS.
Unfortunately, Lancaster residents have not been kept fully in the picture about these changes, which are already beginning to become evident, by the fact that there is an increasing number of very unwell patients having to wait many hours before being allocated a bed, especially those who are brought in by 999 ambulances to the casualty department.
I also understand that much of the time there are acutely-unwell medical patients, having been seen by their GP, are having to wait at home, also for many hours, until sent for by the hospital when a bed becomes available, sadly this puts an unacceptable strain on the staff and the system, having to try to find medical beds in a more often than not, full hospital, from two patient streams - from the casualty department and the community.
I would urge residents to contact their local councillors, both city and county, about these matters, and indeed their MP, as it is very difficult to understand just how the
system is going to cope.
Dr David Earnshaw
Ambleside
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