Infirmary petitions signed by 8,000 people

Rochdale Infirmary

An e.Petition calling for services to be retained at the Rochdale Infirmary has been signed by over 2,000 people and combined with signatures on paper petitions the total now stands at about 8,000.

The online petition finished last night, with 2,110 signatures. Health campaigner, Councillor Jean Ashworth, will present the petition alongside two paper petitions with nearly 6,000 signatures on to Full Council later this month with the view of making the journey to Downing Street to present the petitions to David Cameron of Andrew Lansley.

Councillor Ashworth, said: “I would have liked to have doubled it but on the whole 8,000 is a strong powerful voice against these changes and loss of services, combined with the vote of no confidence - and that is what it is all about.”

Councillor Ashworth, added: “I am hoping the Council will delegate members, myself and the Leader of the Council to go to London and present it to them, if they won’t come to us then we will go to them.

“Then they can realise the suffering that has gone on, the changes that have been made without any consultation and carrying out plans 12 months in advance without any thought.”

A spokesperson for The Pennine Acute Trust said: “The healthcare changes that have happened in Rochdale are part of the wider Greater Manchester Healthy Futures and Making it Better service reconfiguration programmes. These were consulted upon some five years ago and the decisions to change the services have been scrutinised locally by an Independent Reconfiguration Panel, by the High Court at a Judicial Review and approved by the Secretary of State for Health in 2007. More recently, both Healthy Futures and Making it Better have been reviewed again against new tests as set out by the current Government. The plans passed those tests. Independent National Clinical Advisory Teams, involving leading doctors from across the country, have reviewed both plans again. The plans passed that further scrutiny and the national teams stressed the importance of moving to the new arrangements quickly.

“These changes have been led by doctors, midwives and nurses to ensure that the redesign and development of new services will be of a high clinical standard in terms of quality and safety and better able to withstand the current increasing demand on NHS services locally. These changes not only increase the benefits to patients, but also allow for the centralisation of doctors, midwives and nurses with better use of their skills, expertise and resources. People in the Rochdale borough should be reassured that patient safety and quality are paramount in introducing these changes which are needed because existing services are not sustainable.

“We brought forward the transfer of acute inpatient services, including maternity and children’s services, because our doctors and nurses told us that it would not be safe to try to keep the services going at Rochdale Infirmary given the high number of temporary staff in post and our inability to recruit permanent staff. Because patient safety is our top priority we took the view of our clinical staff very seriously and acted upon it. The arrangements we now have in place are safe and sustainable.

“Rochdale Infirmary will continue to provide a range of services including the new UCC for minor injuries, the Clinical Assessment Unit and Programme Investigation Unit, day case surgery, full range of out-patient clinics, ante-natal clinics, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, dieticians and radiology (including ultrasound, ECG, CT and MR scanning).

“We are pleased that recent visits to the new Urgent Care Centre and Clinical Assessment Unit at the Infirmary by local community groups and local councillors, including Councillor Lambert, Councillor Hornby, Councillor Robinson, Councillor Ashworth and other members of the Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee have been welcomed and the feedback extremely positive about the new facilities and staff.”