Legal News

Weston General is the fourth hospital in England to close its overnight A+E services, citing an inability to staff the hospital safely as the reason for closure.

Weston General Hospital, which serves over 200,000 people in Weston-super-Mare, will not offer an A+E service between the hours of 22:00 and 08:00. Those who have a medical emergency will have to dial 999 before an ambulance takes them to either Bristol (24 miles away) or Taunton (27 miles away).

The Trust has stated this to be a temporary decision until safe levels of staffing can be provided, and Medical Director Dr Peter Collins said the move was down to the hospital’s “ability to recruit” not its “ability to care”.

A health watchdog recently deemed the Weston General emergency services to be “inadequate”, while a Care Quality Commission (CQC) urged that the hospital make “significant improvements”.

The closure has been met with much criticism, not least from the public sector workers’ union Unison, which says that every night the A+E is closed “is a risk to the people of Weston”, and analysis of hospital data shows one in five patients attended Weston’s A+E during the period at which it will now be closed. Furthermore, they argued that the fact that the two alternative hospitals were 24 and 27 miles away would mean people would be far away from help and would mean placing a disproportionate burden on those hospitals.

It is feared that this will lead to further downgrading in the Weston General and in other hospitals just like it. The British Medical Association has estimated that health bosses in 18 areas are considering closing or downgrading A+E departments.

Ashwati Menon, from the Duncan Lewis Clinical Negligence Team, has this to say:

“It is coming to light, more and more, the overwhelming shortage of staff and services that the NHS are facing. Whilst their stance is that there is an issue with the ability to recruit, the ability to care is being downgraded and the patients are the ones who continue to suffer.”

Ashwati Menon is a Trainee in Duncan Lewis’ Clinical Negligence Department. She is experienced in assisting on numerous clinical negligence claims, including, but not limited to orthopaedic claims, gastroenterology and cardiac related injuries.

Duncan Lewis Clinical Negligence Solicitors

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