healthmedicinet

“What I am now hearing suggests that the corner has not even been reached. I
am urgently raising my concerns with the secretary of state for health,
Jeremy Hunt.”

He added: “We’ve had a year, 18 months of problems at Colchester General
Hospital, the former chief executive, chairman and numerous members of the
board have all gone, there’s a new team in there and I’m hoping that they
will turn it around.

“There’s no criticism here by the way of the front-line medical staff and
support staff, the criticism I have is the management historically and I’m
just hoping the new management team are going to sort it out, but clearly
this is very worrying.”

Patients were urged to think twice before attending AE over the weekend,
with only those suffering from the most serious conditions, told to turn up.

A spokesman for the hospital said last night: “It’s been a busy weekend.
The pressure has remained the same, but we have not reached a situation
where we have had to turn anyone away.”

But it is feared the widespread closure of AE units around the country
could lead to increased pressure on other hospitals and similar situations
arising.

Since the election 14 casualty departments have been closed or downgraded,
which has resulted in increased waiting times at those hospitals designated
to take up the slack.

A government spokesman said: “We established the role of the independent
chief inspector of hospitals, and set up the toughest inspection regime in
the world, precisely to root out poor care wherever it takes place – meaning
that any problems can be confronted and sorted out quickly, unlike at Mid
Staffs where sadly they were allowed to persist for years.”