News Date: Monday 30th October 2006
Data reveals Worthing's A & E admissions are on the increase.
East Worthing and Shoreham MP Tim Loughton has unearthed figures showing that the number of people admitted to Worthing Hospital via the Accident and Emergency Department has risen by 16% in the last three years.
The controversial figures, which were released by the Government in response to a Parliamentary Question from Tim, fly in the face of the South East Coast Strategic Health Authorities' comment last week that 80% of those who attend Accident and Emergency Departments would be better treated elsewhere. This increase in the number of people attending A & E in such a serious condition that they have to be admitted into a hospital ward is a cause for concern in the light of the proposed cuts to Worthing and Southlands hospital.
In the same Parliamentary Question the Government have also had to admit that the number of people attending Worthing Hospital's Accident and Emergency department has risen by 9% during the last three years.
Tim commented:
"I simply do not understand how the SHA can maintain that 80% of those attending Accident and Emergency departments would be better off elsewhere when the number of people attending has increased so dramatically over such a short time period.
"People who are actually admitted to hospital via A & E are often suffering from life threatening conditions and it is alarming to think of these thousands of extra people having to be rushed along the congested A27 to Brighton before they can receive treatment.
"At a time when our local community is growing it is not a surprise that more people than ever need to be treated in our Accident and Emergency department. It is obvious that local health services need to be expanded not cut.
"These figures are definitive proof that the people of Worthing and Adur need Worthing Hospital to keep its Accident and Emergency department and that far from being unnecessary, as the SHA appear to have suggested, our A & E is crucial to the lives of local residents."
ENDS
Notes to Editor:
1) For more information about KWASH (Keep Worthing and Southlands Hospitals) please visit www.kwash.org.uk or contact Ruth Farrer-Langton on 020 7219 1622.
2) To view Tim's Parliamentary Question in full please see below or visit: http://pubs1.tso.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/cm061026/text/61026w0016.htm#0610277000042
Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many people were admitted to Worthing Hospital Accident and Emergency Department in each of the last three years. [93350]
Ms Rosie Winterton: The information requested is only collected at trust level. The information in the table details the number of attendances at, and admissions through, the accident and emergency (A and E) department at Worthing and Southlands National Health Service Trust, 2003-04 to 2005-06.
| Organisation | Number of admissions via A and E | Total A and E attendances |
| 2003-04 Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust | 12,168 | 56,842 |
| 2004-05 Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust | 13,688 | 61,333 |
| 2005-06 Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust | 14,124 | 62,026 |
| Source: Department of Health dataset QMA |
E.
3) Last week Tim received a reply from the South East Coast SHA to the questions he posed on behalf of attendees at the KWASH meeting at the Worthing Pavilion in early August who did not have the opportunity to raise their concerns with the SHA's Candy Morris. In response to the question "How will other accident and emergency departments cope with Worthing's urgent cases when already stretched?" the SHA replied:
"Any proposals consulted on would see a change in the way care is delivered for many types of patients. Research shows that up to 80% of attendances would be better treated elsewhere. These changes will be implemented across all localities irrespective of the final locations of major A&E centres and will better meet current and projected demand. We would implement plans to ensure any impact on capacity in other locations is taken account of."
?, Tim Loughton MP , 2006
