Southport District General Hospital to close?

[MICK/GILLY]

You have to get to it and the problem is the ambulance service is in crisis. I don't think building a new centre is going to resolve the ambulance crisis, do you?

Ambulances take patients from Southport to all major Liverpool and other hospitals all the time at a moments notice then there is patient transport ambulances then they use private ambulances. Lately a month or so ago I was asked would I like an ambulance to take me to aintree hospital for my appointment, they would have even paid by contract for a taxi for me.
I understand that the ambulance service is under pressure and declined and found my own way there and back. A lot of the problem is they can’t move on as they need to wait to unload at AE, the logistical side to patient transport at southport that send patients all over the north west to and from hospitals is based near the front entrance in an office just behind the pharmacy and I have faith that once an ambulance gets to you pretty quickly as they will prioritise a stroke victim as a major priority you will be sat in aintree within half an hour being treated by the best, that beats sitting in AE at Southport with 7/8 covid victims coughing on you and don’t say that’s extreme I’ve seen the AE figures this week for covid .
The doctors and specialists who are planning this only have our best interest at heart, this investment will be freeing up Southport and putting the patient first , they are not closing or cutting costs they are opening a centre and investing and they are doing it for you and I .
I know an ambulance may take a while longer to get to you than it should but it will prioritise a stroke victim and get you to the best place you can be in the shortest time.

[Polly Trott]

You "know an ambulance may take a while longer to get to you than it should but it will prioritise a stroke victim and get you to the best place you can be in the shortest time." But that is not what is happening. Have you read the links I have provided? I think what you are saying is you don't believe the evidence.

Fair enough mate, your choice.

[MICK/GILLY]

You "know an ambulance may take a while longer to get to you than it should but it will prioritise a stroke victim and get you to the best place you can be in the shortest time." But that is not what is happening. Have you read the links I have provided? I think what you are saying is you don't believe the evidence.

Fair enough mate, your choice.

No I do believe they take longer than they should, in 2018 I waited 17 mins when someone fell and split their head open, I had to call twice before they ambled up and said don’t worry it’s not as bad as it looks. Before I sat the chap down he was wandering about leaning forward and I kid you not blood was pouring out of his head in a stream like a hose pipe or someone had turned a tap on , I really thought he was a gonner… he survived tho and later that day I saw him again he had been discharged with stitches and a big square plaster on his head. The skin on his head had split like when you open a crisp packet wrong and apparently it’s not as bad as it looks phhh.
In 2019 I phoned for an ambulance as my lung had collapsed and I couldn’t breath, the ambulance car arrived first before I put the phone down and the ambulance appeared 2/3 mins later.
No I do agree ambulance response times can be lacklustre and 17 mins felt like a lifetime if not for him the end of a lifetime but I do think these plans will in fact free up AE and other stuff at Southport and that they will prioritise stroke victims and get them to the best place possible in the best time possible.
If it’s my choice then I’ll go with that rather than sit the 2 hours in Southport AE being breathed on and waiting for someone to say yea he has had another stroke take him to somewhere better to deal with it.

Although not to be detrimental to Southport AE I am also grateful that everyone there is doing the best they can with what they have got and they are all top notch staff and if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t be here to write this so yea .

[Chris R]

On Tuesday i found my daughter had taken an overdose. I could not rouse her, so i rang 999, they said they were busy, would take up to an hour. one and a half hours later i rang again. i was asked to get her off her bed and do CPR, which i did.
Within 10 minutes paramedic in the car arrived, he was brilliant. Then 2 more ambulances arrive, bet the neighbours were wondering what was happening. Eventually she was taken hospital. 3 hours later she was admitted ti critical care. She is an induced coma now, we can only visit 1 hour a day, that is enough to see my daughter on life support.
Keep DGH open, i would have not wished to go to Aintree each day.

[Alikado]

On Tuesday i found my daughter had taken an overdose. I could not rouse her, so i rang 999, they said they were busy, would take up to an hour. one and a half hours later i rang again. i was asked to get her off her bed and do CPR, which i did.
Within 10 minutes paramedic in the car arrived, he was brilliant. Then 2 more ambulances arrive, bet the neighbours were wondering what was happening. Eventually she was taken hospital. 3 hours later she was admitted ti critical care. She is an induced coma now, we can only visit 1 hour a day, that is enough to see my daughter on life support.
Keep DGH open, i would have not wished to go to Aintree each day.

I don't think anybody is expecting / wishing the DGH to close but I and a lot of others fully expect it and many other similar hospitals to be 'reincarnated ' in the future in the name of efficiency etc. All major care will be concentrated at the regional teaching hospitals and the likes of Southport and Ormskirk will become minor injuries units and similar to the old cottage hospitals.
None of us fancy going to Aintree daily to visit but unfortunately it is probably where the best expertise is located.
I hope your daughter soon recovers and gets the help she needs.

[MICK/GILLY]

Although they were quick the second time waiting an hour or more in those circumstances is totally unacceptable, everyone here will be wishing your daughter well. X

[Polly Trott]

I don't think anybody is expecting / wishing the DGH to close but I and a lot of others fully expect it and many other similar hospitals to be 'reincarnated ' in the future in the name of efficiency etc. All major care will be concentrated at the regional teaching hospitals and the likes of Southport and Ormskirk will become minor injuries units and similar to the old cottage hospitals.
None of us fancy going to Aintree daily to visit but unfortunately it is probably where the best expertise is located.
I hope your daughter soon recovers and gets the help she needs.

The reason it's probably where the best expertise is is because a decision has been made to locate the best expertise there. That's the problem.

Really sorry to hear about your daughter Chris. Wishing her well x

[Stuartli]

There were two recruitment days at the hospital earlier this month.....

[Alikado]

Today the Trust activated the'Full to Capacity' protocol, it was also revealed that one poor person has been in the department for 70 hours!

[Polly Trott]

"Treatment rates are also kept low by ambulance delays and slow handovers of patients to A&E."

https://www.theguardian.com/society/...e_iOSApp_Other

Do we think this will be sorted within the next six weeks?

[Polly Trott]

Yesterday the ICS board agreed to move stroke treatment from Southport and Ormskirk to Aintree from September. A video of the meeting should be available soon.

[ausard2]

It's down to what is most efficient and cost effective.
Southport whilst a decent hospital , it is somewhat dated on comparison..

[Alikado]

Within about 5 years both Southport and Ormskirk hospitals will be little more than a Cottage Hospital, most GP's will be based there alongside a minor Injuries unit, the wards will be looking after people who are nearly ready for discharge and it will be upto them to keep the flow so the 'Proper Hospitals' don't get bed blocked

[Polly Trott]

It's down to what is most efficient and cost effective.
Southport whilst a decent hospital , it is somewhat dated on comparison..

You can have a stroke unit 30 minutes drive away containing the most up-to-date, gleaming equipment and the most highly skilled and dedicated staff available but if ambulances can't get to it in those precious early minutes and hours following a stroke it is not going to be either the most effeciant or cost effective.

[Alikado]

You can have a stroke unit 30 minutes drive away containing the most up-to-date, gleaming equipment and the most highly skilled and dedicated staff available but if ambulances can't get to it in those precious early minutes and hours following a stroke it is not going to be either the most effeciant or cost effective.

But if all the experienced staff are at the big site it will still be the most offhand effective.