NHS Trust confirm Chorley A&E won't re-open in August
It's been confirmed that Chorley's A&E Unit won't reopen in August.
It's been confirmed that Chorley's A&E Unit won't reopen in August.
Campaigners claim they've received a tip-off from an insider at the hospital - that it won't open until January next year.
The Protect Chorley Hospitals campaign group has been fighting long and hard to get the unit re-opened - they've been protesting outside the hospital every weekend since April.
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust were forced to temporarily downgrade to an urgent care unit due to staff shortages - but assured campaigners the A&E would open its doors again in August.
Now, campaigns have learnt that it might be closed until early next year.
Steve Turner's from the Protect Chorley Hospitals Group - he told Rock FM they've had a tip-off from a reliable source at the hospital that the situation will be reviewed in January.
Lancashire Teaching Hospitals say that even though they've recruited new doctors, they still can't provide enough cover to re-open the A&E and have confirmed that it will not be up and running again in time for August.
Here's the statement Rock FM received from Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust:
"Following the temporary closure of the accident and emergency (A&E) department at Chorley Hospital because of a shortage of middle grade doctors, central Lancashire’s System Resilience Group has been monitoring the progress to recruit more doctors on a week-by-week basis "While it was hoped that the expected trainee doctors joining Lancashire Teaching Hospitals for their accident and emergency rotations in August would alleviate the issue, this is still not expected to provide enough doctor cover to re-open the service, "As Jan Ledward, Chief Officer of the NHS Clinical Commissioning Groups for Chorley, South Ribble and Greater Preston, and Chair of the System Resilience Group stated: “Local NHS organisations and the local authority have been working closely together to do everything possible to re-open the A&E service at Chorley, “While there has been a small improvement in staffing levels, the number and level of doctors we currently have means that we are still not in a position to support a re-opening of the A&E service at Chorley at this current time." Professor Mark Pugh, Consultant Anaesthetist and Medical Director of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust added: “Our absolute priority is patient safety and the quality of services we provide. It would be negligent and an unacceptable risk to patients for us to re-open a service that would not be safe due to doctor shortages.
“Instead, we will be looking at a number of options of how we may be able to enhance the current services available based on the small number of extra doctors we do have.”
“In the meantime, people can access urgent care services between 8am and 8pm at the Chorley hospital site. I would encourage everyone to use services as appropriately as they can, remembering what’s available at GP surgeries and pharmacies and the Urgent Care service at Preston.”
Jan concluded: “This is an unfortunate situation that none of us want, and reflects the nationwide challenges in recruiting doctors and other clinicians.”