During my visit to Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham, which serves patients from around the Portsmouth area, including many from Fareham, I was shown round by Cathy Stone, Director of Nursing and visited the elderly care ward, where issues such as the need for extra community beds and improved co-ordination with adult social care services were discussed.
At A&E, I saw the pressures staff are under during the winter, and raised recent serious concerns about waiting times, which were revealed as the worst in the country earlier this month. I heard how the problem is being addressed with new IT systems to manage admissions and keep track of waiting times.
I was very pleased to have the chance to visit QA and see for myself the very real challenges they are facing, particularly at this time of year. The dedication of nursing staff like Matron Bev Vaughan in the elderly care ward was inspiring, and I pay sincere tribute to her and all her colleagues for all they do. My mother was a nurse for 45 years, so this is something very close to my heart. We discussed some of the difficulties they are facing, such as the issue of patients in transition and the shortage of community beds elsewhere. This is leading to many patients remaining at QA for longer than they should before they can be discharged, and that causes a range of problems.
It was also helpful to see the reality of the situation in A&E, where recent problems with missed targets for waiting-times are well-known. To see Ambulances literally queuing outside really brings home the pressure they are under, but I was somewhat reassured by the seriousness with which staff are taking action to manage admissions. The use of new IT systems to keep track of patients through the system seems to be helping, but there is still a lot of work to do. I know my colleague Penny Mordaunt is in frequent dialogue with the hospital management on this issue and many others as the constituency MP, and she has my support and that of neighbouring MPs whose constituents are also heavily affected by issues at QA.
My visit certainly confirmed my view that there needs to be a transfer of more services to local health facilities like Fareham Community Hospital, which would help alleviate some of the pressure of QA. That’s something I’ve spoken about with the new local health taskforce I’ve set up, and I will continue to push for that to happen.