The Eastern Daily Press reports today on the announced closure of Aylsham hospital by the Primary Care Trust.
The PCT has been going through a sham consultation with members of the public for some months now before going ahead with a decision to do what they wanted to do anyway, and the result us the closure of what is an excellent hospital facility.
I had an operation there in 1993 on my knee, and the care was first class, and in 2002 I received ultrasound treatment on my ankle after a nasty double break in it, and again the treatment was superb. But what I particularly liked was that as a resident living north of Norwich, I didn't have to travel in to Norwich to get treatment and the care I got was very personal.
I've spent a lot of time at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital recently and the staff there are superb. However, they are also overworked and often understaffed (more on which i will blog about later in the week), and the last thing the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital needs are more patients being forced through their doors because the PCT are closing community hospitals.
The whole "game" in the NHS these days seems to be about shifting budgets, but not about patient care. Yes, by closing the Aylsham hospital the Norfolk PCT will save money. But this will mean greater costs for the Norfolk And Norwich University Hospital Trust, and the result is people travelling greater distances for care.
This way of running the NHS is crazy and serves nobody.
2 comments:
Its symptomatic of this government's obsession with figures and statistics. Too much emphasis is now put on stats and costs, not treatment.
It's a real shame this is happenning. Has a date been set for when it's to close?
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