
Emma Friddin from Healthwatch Enfield on plans to reduce opening hours at Chase Farm Hospital
Thanks to all 372 of you who shared your views about the proposals to reduce the opening times of the urgent care centre at Chase Farm Hospital.
We have been busy analysing your feedback and have collated your views in a report, which we sent to Enfield Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) in August. This is a great example of how we use your feedback to influence local health and social care services.
Enfield CCG has recently proposed changing the closing time of the urgent care centre from 10pm to 9pm. This is because the busiest hours are from 8am to 12pm, while the last hour of service is the quietest.
At Healthwatch Enfield, it is our job to amplify voices of local people on key issues that affect them; over the last few weeks we collected feedback relating to this proposal and can show that 84% of local people who responded to us did not agree with the proposal.
Our research findings suggest that the urgent care centre is a valuable resource. Those we heard from were concerned that the proposed changes will further reduce the provision of urgent care services in Enfield, will make accessing urgent care services in Enfield more difficult, and will have an impact on accident and emergency departments and ambulance services.
Informed by feedback from local people, Healthwatch Enfield have written to Enfield CCG, requesting that they maintain the current opening times of the urgent care centre at Chase Farm Hospital. At the time of writing, we are currently waiting for a response to our letter, but will keep you updated when we hear more.
Patricia Mecinska, chief executive of Healthwatch Enfield, said: “Local people have told us that the opening hours of the urgent care centre at Chase Farm should not be reduced. There is more work that needs to be done to provide more information about the centre to local communities.
“We hope that Enfield CCG will take note of local people’s views when making its decision. We will be advocating for this through all available forums and meetings.”
You can read our full report and the open letter to Enfield CCG on our website.
For more information about Healthwatch Enfield and to get in touch:
Call 020 8373 6283
Email [email protected]
Tweet @HealthwatchEnf
Visit healthwatchenfield.co.uk
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