We have made it very clear that the policy to transport acutely unwell children directly to Queen’s Hospital rather than King George was introduced following a clinically-led review of children’s services in 2010.
The decision made by London Ambulance Service and the Trust was supported by our commissioners and shared with the council at the time via the Joint Health and Overview Scrutiny Committee. This has meant for the last three and a half years all children in blue light emergency ambulances are taken to Queen’s Hospital where high dependency paediatric care is centralised.
The priority for the Trust at the moment is addressing the issues raised in last year's Care Quality Commission inspection to benefit current patients. Only once completely satisfied that we have our house in order and that performance is sustained above the minimum four hour emergency access 95 per cent standard, will we carry on with planned changes to further improve services.
Matthew Hopkins, chief executive, Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust
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