THE NHS trust in charge of an east London hospital under fire for its children’s services has apologised reports the Local Democracy Reporter.
Queen’s Hospital in Romford is at the centre of a campaign, headed by local parents and Dagenham & Rainham’s Labour MP Margaret Mullane, over the treatment children receive there.
Parents have launched a campaign for the cash-strapped hospital to install ‘safe beds’ for children and adults with complex and special needs, while Mullane says their experiences are “totally unacceptable”.
Nic Kane, the chief nurse at Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHRUT), said: “We know our children’s A&E department is not always the best place to care for children with additional needs, and we’re sorry some families have had a poor experience.
“We will be meeting with Margaret Mullane MP and parents soon so we can discuss their concerns and how we can address them.”
“We’ve worked closely with families where a child requires a specialist bed while in hospital, to ensure they are cared for safely,” she added.
“We also work alongside our learning disability (LD) team so children who attend frequently have LD passports, which help ensure we can support their needs.
The Labour MP says she will be arranging a meeting with Fiona Wheeler, the trust’s new chief executive, and had previously written to the outgoing chief Matthew Trainer about “my concerns with the A&E department and the pressure the service was under”.
“It was heartbreaking to hear the stories from parents, I am determined to work and campaign with them to secure the necessary changes at Queen’s to prevent these distressing problems from happening again,” she added, following a meeting with parents earlier this month.
BHRUT is currently campaigning for a £42million fund to transform the A&E at Queen’s Hospital, alongside the children’s A&E department.
The A&E department saw more than 750 patients a day – double its capacity of 325 – in March, which the trust said was “particularly challenging”.
The 20-year-old service “isn’t fit for purpose,” Wheeler previously said, while her predecessor says the £42m is “needed to develop a modern, fit-for-purpose department and eradicate corridor care”.
