MP to go on frontline duty at the Alex

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REDDITCH’S MP is set to join staff in A&E in a bid to find out more about the pressures the department is under.

Karen Lumley will also spend time on shift in maternity and paediatrics at the Alexandra Hospital as part of the fact finding mission. The offer was made during a meeting last Friday (August 10) with senior clinicians at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

Mrs Lumley said she had expressed deep concern at changes proposed by the trust which could see A&E and maternity services at the Alex moved to Worcester.

“They have got to save the money and they’ve got to make sure these places are staffed properly and they made that clear to me, but I also made my feelings pretty clear about A&E,” she said.

"Nobody has given me any reason to change my mind about there not being an A&E at the Alex but I have offered to go and spend a good chunk of time with them and see what goes on for myself. I’m not a doctor, I’m an accountant so I can see the money bit, so I want to go and find out for myself,” she said.

Mrs Lumley has also offered to join trust chiefs on a visit to an Urgent Treatment Centre elsewhere in the country - which is what is proposed to replace the full A&E service at the Alex - and has also urged hospital bosses to invite members of the Save the Alex campaign group.

She also criticised the trust for failing to attend the Save the Alex rally two weeks ago and talking to the 1,500 plus people who turned up as well as calling for doctors in the area to be more vocal about the changes.

“If this is being clinically led then they, the doctors not Penny Venables (trust chief executive), need to explain it to people in terms they can understand.

“If Redditch can’t have an A&E then why, explain it to them,” she added.

“I have met with a few doctors over the recess (from Parliament) and once the proposals are on the table I will be writing to the GPs and consulting widely but for the moment I am listening to what people tell me.”

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