'Have it all in Chorley and South Ribble': locals try to tempt medics to districts' A&E

Medics from across the UK have been told that they will find “whatever they are looking for” in life if they make the move to Chorley and South Ribble Hospital.
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The message is contained in a video created by campaigners who have spent almost five years calling for the round-the-clock reinstatement of the boroughs’ A&E.

Staff shortages have always been cited as the reason that their goal has remained out of reach - but they have been given a glimmer of hope in recent months after a major recruitment drive undertaken to allow the unit to reopen during daylight hours following its complete closure at the start of the pandemic.

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Lancashire Teaching Hospitals (LTH) has found more than half of the middle-grade doctors and consultants to fill the greater-than-usual number of posts needed in order to run a Covid secure department - but has had to fill some gaps with locums.

Clockwise from top left :  Cuerden Valley Park, Astley Hall and a supportive local community in the form of A&E campaigner Jenny Hurley - just some of the things on offer to doctors who answer the call to come to Chorley HospitalClockwise from top left :  Cuerden Valley Park, Astley Hall and a supportive local community in the form of A&E campaigner Jenny Hurley - just some of the things on offer to doctors who answer the call to come to Chorley Hospital
Clockwise from top left : Cuerden Valley Park, Astley Hall and a supportive local community in the form of A&E campaigner Jenny Hurley - just some of the things on offer to doctors who answer the call to come to Chorley Hospital

The Chorley and South Ribble Hospital Campaign hopes that if those remaining roles can be staffed, it will make a stronger case to keep the facility open permanently, Its long-term future remains uncertain, with the main options in a forthcoming public consultation set to recommend its closure.

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An LTH board meeting last week heard that the unit had been seeing an average of 30 patients a day since reopening just over a month ago - and was exceeding all waiting time standards.

In the group’s 15-minute video, prospective doctors and nurses are tempted with all the two districts have to offer - including “rolling countryside on your doorstep”, attractions such as Astley Hall and Chorley Little Theatre, good schools and the possibility of a five-bedroomed house in the area for the price of a studio flat in London.

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They are also told of the huge local support for the hospital and its A&E - including the weekly Saturday morning gathering at the gates of the Euxton Lane site to push for the full-time reopening of the emergency department.

“What better way to show our staff - both present and future - that we have their back than whole communities from Chorley and South Ribble pulling together and actively working for a better future for them?” asked stalwart campaigner Jenny Hurley.

“The campaign has always understood that services can’t be provided if we don’t have the staff.

“We look forward to working with the Trust to ensure every available option is utilised to keep all services accessible for the safety of all of us.”

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The video also features contributions from the area’s MPs. Chorley’s Sir Lindsay Hoyle said: “If you want a great place to live, work and enjoy a quality of life, come and work at Chorley Hospital - we need you now.”

South Ribble MP Katherine Fletcher added that people in the North were “the soundest you’ll come across”, describing the staff at the hospital as “fantastic, friendly and skilled”.

Any new recruits would not necessarily be deployed solely at the Chorley site.

LTH medical director Dr. Gerry Skailes told board members that the reopened unit was performing well - with a triage time of just four minutes, compared to the national standard of a quarter of an hour, and around 95 percent of patients being treated and either admitted or discharged within the four-hour waiting time target.

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The meeting heard that there were a small number of occasions when patients had had to be transferred to the Royal Preston because of the nature of their condition - but that attendees were being managed safely.

Shortly before the A&E was brought back into operation, 17 LTH consultants wrote a letter warning that the move was unsafe as the second wave of the pandemic struck.

When the reopening was announced, the Our Health Our Care programme, which is leading the reorganisation of health and social care services in Central Lancashire, said that an “honest conversation” still needed to be had about the long-term viability of the unit.

No date for the public consultation can be set until regulators have approved the proposals on which it is based, a process which is ongoing. The area’s clinical commissioning group will also then have to give it the go-ahead.

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