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Royal Surrey A&E - Nick Hancock (4th Dec 2006  13:27:35) Has anyone else out there heard about the proposals to merge our "local" A&E department at the Royal Surrey with Frimley Park hospital. I have lived in Hampshire for 11 years, 7 of them in Liphook, and I have only the haziest idea of where Frimley is. Maybe it's just my ignorance, but it sounds a very long way away. Such a move might be (conceivably) OK for the residents of Guildford, for whom Frimley might not be too far, and along decent roads. But those who formulate these plans may just have forgotten that the catchment areas of this hospital and others like it already extends way beyond the urban centres which surround them. How far will outlying centres like Liphook now be from the their "designated" A&E department? I've found a petition awaiting signature in the Nationwide BS in the Square - if you're concerned by this proposal then please sign it. And James Arbuthnot, if you're still reading this site then I might even be persuaded to change my vote to the Conservatives at the next election if you could intervene in a way which would prevent this change from taking place.

Re: Royal Surrey A&E - S (4th Dec 2006  15:40:58) It's slightly worse than that I believe, A&E and Maternity ward is being closed and with that they reckon the whole hospital will follow shortly after. Personally I think it's a disgrace especially as The Royal Surrey in the scheme of things isn't that old. I can't remeber when it was build but it can't be more than 25 years old. Basingstoke is the nearest one. thats the same distance as Guildford from Liphook.

Re: Royal Surrey A&E - LippyChick (5th Dec 2006  19:34:05) Mile wise Basingstoke may be the same as getting to Guildford from Liphook, but I haven't managed getting to Basingstoke in less than 45 minutes, and that is off peak, the same journey to Guildford takes approximately 20 minutes. The maths ain't good Lips x

Re: Royal Surrey A&E - Michael Grimes (6th Dec 2006  00:44:08) Frimley Park is no further from us than Royal Surrey as long as you are mangled enough to justify use of the helicopter. Otherwise, you have to get to Camberley by road. Seriously, this government says it is commited to giving us choice when all we really want is for medical services to be nearby and good. Closing hospitals satisfies neither aim. If I were to be run over by a bus (less and less likely as time goes on) I do not want to go to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary because it is the best (or only) A & E in the country.

Re: Royal Surrey A&E - Nick Hancock (8th Dec 2006  14:51:00) Thanks all for your support on this. It strikes me that it's another example of infrastructure creaking under the strain of devolopment. There are a lot of people in our part of the county who need an accessible hospital, and overcrowded roads mean that we can't get to the one that is being earmarked for us. While I'm thinking about it - sending people to Camberley (?), where they stand no earthly hope of going by public transport, is hardly "sustainable development" either. Nick

Re: Royal Surrey A&E - mammal (11th Dec 2006  08:17:15) Stop whinging and vote for a more socialist, government, then. You can't have you cake and eat it.

Re: Royal Surrey A&E - Chris (12th Dec 2006  04:23:29) Yeah...bring back Michael Foot...the country was in a far better state under him...and erm...

Re: Royal Surrey A&E - Eneida Nelson (3rd Jan 2007  15:22:56) Isn't it reassuring to know that while people in the Home Counties are in danger of losing vital life saving facilities the Leader of the Opposition is currently savaging Labour on a really important issue.....food labels....apparently he's really upset because some of them say the food is British when there's a possibility it's really foreign... Shock..Horror!!! Eneida...who used to be true blue...

Re: Royal Surrey A&E - purplecurly (3rd Jan 2007  19:38:05) Personally, I would avoid RSurrey like the plague at all costs. It has the worst MRSI records in the country. Given a choice I would ALWAYS opt for another hospital. PC

Re: Royal Surrey A&E - Allan (5th Jan 2007  02:07:37) Hi Purplecurly, Interesting you should bring up the subject of the R.S.H. hygiene. I was in there 1998 for an emergency appendectomy and I cannot agree with you more on the state of filth there. Ward toilets with no light bulbs; good job too, 'cos when the light bulbs were eventually renewed, the sight was appalling. Excrement all over the walls, no toilet paper, floor not cleaned for yonks. place was a total disgrace. But, if you wandered down towards the public areas, there was a big display board outlining their magnificent achievements as a trust.This statistic, that statistic; total head in the sand stuff. What we are being fed for information on the current state of the N.H.S. is almost laughable considering information coming out now regarding staff redundacies (yes, effing redundacies) even though they are short of qualified specialists, doctors nurses and ancilliary staff. When Labour came to power in 1997, they stated that it was their intention to recruit an EXTRA 13,000 nurses. That, as I understand, was the number of nurses the N.H.S. was SHORT at the time. So, if what we hear is true,i.e. 14,000 nursing redundancies are imminent, we will land up with 1000 nurses less in the system than we had in 1997, meaning that we actually could be running the N.H.S. hospital services with anything between 13,000 and 27,000 less nurses than our government identified that it needed to run it in 1997! If this was fiction, nobody of sound intelligence would give it creedence, would they ? It isn't.

Re: Royal Surrey A&E - rob (5th Jan 2007  14:07:29) Purplecurly A few facts (not that we should ever let them get in the way of a nice stream of invective). The Royal Surrey has a pretty good MRSA record: Dept of Health figures (at http://www.dh.gov.uk/assetRoot/04/10/55/18/04105518.pdf) show them 17th out of 45 specialist NHS trusts in 2004 with a rate of 0.17 cases per thousand bed days. You'd be more than twice as likely to catch MRSA by going to hospitals in the Brighton and Sussex Trust (0.37/1000) and nearly as badly off going to hospitals in the Portsmouth Trust (0.31/1000). Even so, you're right to say we'd be much better off going to hospitals in the North Hants Trust (Basingstoke, Alton, Chase hospitals) who were the best in the country with significantly lower infection rates. What's really worrying is that the National Audit Office reckons that 9% of all people in hospital are there because they picked up an infection in hospital (not necessarily, of course, the one they are in). No wonder the government's at last trying to tackle the issue. Allan's anecdote, while horrific, is eight years old now. Does anyone have any more up-to-date positive or negative story to tell? rob.

Re: Royal Surrey A&E - RB (6th Jan 2007  17:42:06) The Royal Surrey may have had its issues in the past, can anyone hand on heart claim that the NHS hasn't tried to improve? As an NHS employee I get really cheesed that Hospitals are expected to meet goverment targets on no additional money and then are penalised if they are not met! What a surprise then that Trusts are now in huge financial difficulties when Mrs Hewitt and her friends double the deficit each year. If your banks were to double your overdraft each year and still expect you to pay it off and live a life there would be uproar! It is about time the NHS was given achievable targets with adequate funding instead of money being wasted on re-inventing the wheel. There are always going to be horror stories about experiences in hospitals, but the staff at the RSCH are fighting to keep open a vital resource and are working to the best of their abilitites to maintain standards. We don't do it for the huge financial rewards believe me! Imagine if we were to lose the only A&E on the A3 between Portsmouth and London. The tunnel is about to start work and then there is the 2012 Olympics using the A3 as a main route from London to the coast. Do we need a major incident for us to stand up for ourselves? There are no confirmed plans as yet for RSCH all the rumours are yet to be substaniated, but we must stand up and be counted. If the RSCH goes, I for one don't want to travel from Liphook to Frimley or Baisingstoke. I have been in the unenviable position of having my son blue lighted to the RSCH in 15 minutes, I can't imagine trying to get to another A&E in that time - legally!

Re: Royal Surrey A&E - elle (7th Jan 2007  18:13:34) On the subject of hygeine I was very impressed when I was staying there in the summer after having my tonsils out. Before I went in everyone i spoke to said I didn't want to go there and gave me their horror stories (which was reassuring!). I felt much better once i got there though. I was only staying in the short stay unit but the staff were extremley friendly and hygeine wise i couldn't have asked for more. When i arrived i was the only one in the ward until another lady came in. We'd been there about half an hour and the toilet had been cleaned twice and neither of us had been in there yet. This cleaner kept coming back about every 20mins to clean the toilet and the ward, even the chair my dad had been sitting on (might say more about my dad than the hospital:) Thankfully this is my only personal experience of being kept in a hospital so maybe i was easliy pleased but it was as plesant as it could be. At the same time my gran was in a hospital on the outskirts of London which in comparison was awful. I dread to think what their MSRA statistics are, sadly my gran caught it whilst there and died from it. Down here we don't know how good we've got it.

Re: Royal Surrey A&E - RB (8th Jan 2007  18:12:08) Thanks Elle. It is good to hear a positive story about RSCH. The staff are working really hard to maintain standards there and sweeping statements about avoiding it at all costs are so unhelpful! My personal experiences as a patient and a relative have all been good. It would be a nice change to hear more positives from patients, but I guess only moans and groans make interesting reading in the press these days.

Re: Royal Surrey A&E - Fay (15th Jan 2007  23:13:54) No one has mentioned going to Haslemere Hospital's Minor Injuries Centre, open from 9 - 5 week days. Local, although parking can be a bit of a problem. Friendly and fairly quick, it even has its own xray. It has had a makeover recently as well.

Re: Royal Surrey A&E - Helen (22nd Jan 2007  23:37:36) i have had 2 stays at the RSH both in the maternity ward. I have to say that when i went in in 2004 the loos were a disgrace (I know its difficult to keep on top of dirty loos in maternity wards but this was ingrained!). However when i went back in Sept 2006 it was really very clean! this time - no dust bunnies under the beds and the curtains werent stiff with grime! HOWEVER! Whilst i do beleve i did get good treatment and i wouldnt want to go anywhere else at this time (indeed i chose to go to RSH rather than basingstoke fo my birth) it was a flawed service. In the last few weeks of my pregnancy i was in and out of the day clinic - the midwife running it was fantastic and i was seen within 30 minutes of ny scheduled appointment which considering how many women they can get in there was quite good in my opinion. I still had to wait 5 hours yes 5 hours to be signed out by the SHO - 9 months pregnant and in the middle of the heatwave and i a string of women waiting to be seen by SHO - who only sat with me asked exactly the same questions as the midwife, then spoke to the registrar - who had been sat there reading a book during my 5 hour wait (!!!!!!!!!!!!) and then said the registrar has reveiwed your case and you can go home'. !!!!!!!! how frustrating that there werent more SHO's around or that the registrar could have seen us as we were all suffering in the heat! Oh and this happened 3 times!! its an admin thing not a medical thing as i felt very looked after with my medical needs. Except that the lost vital blood test results that meant i didnt get a vaccination that i needed...... hmmmmm.... I would still go to the RSH though in preference to any other hospital in the area (or out of the area ie basingstoke which is NOT local!) i hope i havent whinged but let you know a balanced view of my experience.

Re: Royal Surrey A&E - Barry Hope (25th Jan 2007  11:08:05) Hi, Heard an interesting piece on County Sound yesterday. A petition to save the RSCH is in progress which will be presented to 10 Downing Street. Anybody can sign online at: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Save-RSCH/ Please log on and sign the petition and try to get as many people as possible to do the same. Best wishes Barry

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