Accident & Emergency, Childrens and Maternity services at Chase Farm Hospital are in danger of being closed. Many people will die as a result.
But - if you act now - you have the power to stop this. This website will show you how.
In addition to our active group of campaigners, SAVE CHASE FARM now has two elected councillors working to save your A&E.
Cllr. Kate Wilkinson Save Chase Farm Chase Ward
Cllr. Kieran McGregor Save Chase Farm Town Ward
If you would like to be updated on the campaign, please leave your email address:
Petition the Prime Minister
There are currently two live petitions relating to the retention of services at Chase Farm...why not sign up to one or both of them by clicking on the link...
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to keep Chase Farm Accident and Emergency from closure. More details
Submitted by Alfonso Criscuoli of Student Nurse Deadline to sign up by: 02 October 2009
More details from petition creator
The PM has caterogically ignored the local peoples voices and by taking the irresponsible decision in setting a timeline to close the A&E has put the lives of many local people at risk. The A&E at Chase Farm hospital is a very busy department and is very well used, the 2 other local hospitals would be under a great strain to cope in Chase Farm goes. Please let common sense prevail and lets reverse the decision to in order to save lives.
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to order an urgent review of the decision to diminish front-line healthcare within Enfield. More details
Submitted by Mr Scott Wilkinson – Deadline to sign up by: 08 December 2009 –
More details from petition creator
The loss of major A&E, acute stroke services, consultant-led maternity and children's care from Chase Farm Hospital is about to put lives at risk. With the local NHS seemingly unable to grasp the consequences of its proposed actions, government ministers must step in to protect the health of Enfield residents.
LEGAL UPDATE
On Wednesday 8th April Judge Geraldine Andrews gave a judgement that will prevent us from having a full and public judicial review hearing in relation to the removal of all front-line services from Chase Farm Hospital.
We are utterly shocked and appalled by the Judge's decision not to allow a public hearing of this case. The judgement itself contains many 'factual inaccuracies' and to deny the public the opportunity to present the truth is unforgivable in a case that has been argued for so long by so many. The PCTs have clearly had the opportunity to present their case. They may well state that to keep front-line services at Chase Farm is 'neither financially viable nor clinically safe' but no evidence is included to substantiate these well rehearsed but hollow arguments. The NHS have been asked many times for concrete answers to fundamental questions relating to capacity, finance and accessibility in particular. We know that the maternity departments at Barnet and Chase Farm combined have not been able to cope with the sharp rise in the birth rate. These departments closed on 91 occasions because they were full last year and yet no plans have been put forward by the PCTs to explain how the system could cope without the maternity department at Chase Farm. Similarly targets are not being met at A and E departments nor are they being met by ambulance response times across the borough. The new build at the North Middlesex Hospital was not designed to accommodate the extra patients if Chase Farm were to be downgraded. Successive health ministers have been repeatedly unable to provide answers to these questions and yet they still supported the decision to remove our front-line services. This judgement today is flawed on many levels and we are left horrified by the denial of our opportunity to demand answers to these questions in court.
We would welcome the opportunity once again to ask the Health Minister for a response. It is wholly irresponsible to allow these plans to proceed until responses can be provided to these fundamental questions. Residents of Enfield once again have been treated with utter contempt.
ENFIELD COUNCIL REJECTS IRP FINDINGS
At the meeting of Enfield council on 17th September 2008 Kate Wilkinson proposed a motion expressing SCF's disappointment with the IRP report and the Secretary of State's decision to rubber stamp the plans to downgrade services. The motion was passed by the council. The Save Chase Farm group is continuing to oppose these plans. Watch this space!
Motion Passed by Enfield Council:
The decision to remove all front line services from Chase Farm Hospital shows utter contempt for the democratic process. Public opinion has been consistently demonstrated over the past few years. There have been cross-party, large scale public demonstrations and collectively we have handed in petitions, letters and signed forms in excess of 79,000 during this time. All have stated the need to retain a fully functioning A and E,consultant-led women, children and maternity services at Chase Farm Hospital.
One million people will be adversely affected by this decision. The most vulnerable members of our society will be most affected namely:
Those in need of emergency care; women in labour; very sick children and anyone without their own transport.
This Council mandates the Leader of the Council and the Chairman of the Health Scrutiny Panel to write to the Secretary of State for Health to invite him to explain this decision to the residents of Enfield:
Given that public opinion has been so blatantly ignored it is unacceptable that an undeclared amount of public money, running into many millions of pounds has been wasted on a meaningless consultation. This money should have been spent on healthcare and should at the very least be declared before yet another meaningless 'public consultation' begins.
Patient choice; accessibility and clinical safety have all been severely compromised by this decision. This makes a mockery of the government's own policies and recommendations.
We would like to pay tribute to the work of the Health Scrutiny Committee; it's officers and cross-party members who have worked hard to underline the many reasons why this decision is not in the best interests of those we all represent. Many other groups and members of the public have also worked hard to support the campaign. We are grateful for this support and are utterly appalled that so many voices have been ignored.
NEWS: 04.09.2008
IRP REPORT RELEASED
The report by the Independent Reconfiguration Panel has now been released.
Given the weight of evidence presented to the IRP our first reaction is shock.
The decision to support the PCT's proposals will jeopardise lives in Enfield and we consider this decision to be injurious to public health. This decision shows a blatant disregard for public opinion, which has been consistently demonstrated over the past few years. There have been cross-party, large scale public demonstrations, and collectively we have handed in petitions, letters, and signed forms in excess of 79,000 during this time.
Given that this was clearly a 'fait accompli' from the start it is unacceptable that an undeclared amount that runs into millions of pounds was wasted on a meaningless consultation. This public money should have been spent on healthcare !
We are currently considering every option. Nothing has been ruled in or out at this stage.
SCF would like to pay tribute to the work of the Health Scrutiny Committee; it's officers and cross-party members who have worked hard to underline the many reasons why this decision is not in the best interests of those we represent.
Many other groups have also worked hard to support the campaign and we are encouraged by their efforts and also those of all the campaign groups and members of the public who continue to protest against this ongoing downgrading of our healthcare system.
Online Petition
Save Chase Farm created an on line petition to the Prime Minister to lobby to prevent land at the Chase Farm site being sold off. An amazing 2 020 people signed it in a short period of time. The petition is now closed, the exact wording was:
We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to confer with Rt Hon Caroline Flint, Secretary of State for Communities and Housing, to prevent further land sales on the Chase Farm Hospital site ( please refer to PI ref:APP/Q5300/A/07/2043/798/NWF). This land is needed for the urgent development of Primary and Secondary care, for residents of Enfield, Barnet, Haringey and South Hertfordshire.
The Planning Permission was refused! See below.
Update on Planning Application
PLANNING APPEAL DISMISSED!!
We have received notification from the Planning Inspector and the Secretary of State that the appeal lodged by the Barnet and Chase Farm Hospital Trust to build an additional 279 housing units on the Chase Farm site has been DISMISSED. The Hospital Trust can appeal but only through the High Court and grounds for doing so are extremely limited by planning law.
The Planning Inspector has provided a very comprehensive report detailing the main issues covered during this lengthly appeal process. Please contact Kate Wilkinson or Kieran McGregor via Enfield Council if you would like a full copy.
The Hospital Trust were unable to prove that this appeal site was 'surplus to requirements' . We will continue to argue that this valuable piece of NHS land should be used to house much needed primary and secondary care health facilities for the residents of our borough.
The application was also premature; given that the future of the hospital as a whole is yet to be determined. The Joint Borough Health Scrutiny Panel covering the areas of Enfield, Barnet, Haringey and South Hertfordshire were not satisfied with the decision made by the 3 PCTs last December to implement 'Option One' (to downgrade Chase Farm Hospital - including the loss of a full A and E, Maternity, Women and Children's departments. They subsequently exercised their right to refer this decision back to the Secretary of State for Health; Alan Johnson. As a result, he has given the independent body called the 'IRP' the task of thoroughly investigating whether or not this would be in the best interest of our residents.
Update on Consultation
On January 21st, the Joint Health Scrutiny panels of four boroughs Enfield, Haringey, Barnet and Herts. expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision of the three PCTs by calling it in. The decision has been to the Secretary of Sate for health. The Secretary of State for Health has requested that the Independent Reconfiguration Panel (IRP) review the decision. The IRP are currently conducting a review of the consultation process. If you would like to participate in the review by providing evidence or speaking to the IRP in person, you should call them on 0207-389-8055 or email them: info@irpanel.org.uk All proposed changes to services at Chase Far are now on hold pending this process.
In the summer of 2006, 10 scenarios were provided by the NHS for consultation. These 10 scenarios were mysteriously reduced to five in late 2006. Those five scenarios included one which would have allowed all frontline services to be retained at Chase Farm. This was called 'scenario E'.
However when consultation commenced in July 2007, the options had been whittled down to 2 options, Scenario E had disappeared. The options were selected and articulated by the NHS behind closed doors, and left the public with what amounted to Hobson's choice. Neither of the two options provided for a fully functioning Accident and Emergency department at Chase Farm or Women's and Children's' services at the Chase Farm site.
The residents of Enfield (and Haringey) were asked to engage in a sham consultation because it did not allow them to express their views only to respond to 'closed questions' relating to the limited options pre-selected for them by NHS bureaucrats.
In spite of this, thousands of people wrote in and sent back their questionnaires rejecting both options. The consultation tells us two things:
Firstly, the consultation document was poorly designed and the process was poorly managed. Response rates were abysmally low (considering we are talking about the future health needs of a population of 900 000 or more). No academic institution would accept the low response rate as a valid 'sample' to draw conclusions from.
Secondly, the people of Enfield and surrounding boroughs will not be duped into 'selecting' options which amount to cutting our services and transferring patients with life threatening conditions to other boroughs.
Save Chase Farm will continue to fight to ensure that the views of the vast majority of users of Chase Farm hospital are not ignored.
