8.07pm
That’s it folks. Thanks for reading.
8.04pm
Rishi says he wants to talk to the trust about “going the extra mile” to recruit more doctors and suggests people want to see JC clinicians working at the Friarage. Dr Clements says the consultants have been keeping the Friarage open for the last 18 months and have done a great job. He finishes by urging the room to get behind the new model.
8pm
People are starting to leave and the questions are coming to an end. A round of applause for Dr Dunbar as he says they would love to keep the A&E open at the Friarage but it’s not going to happen.
7.56pm
Dr Dunbar stresses that paramedics will be able to ring a consultant and ask where the appropriate places for them to go is, and that is likely to be the Friarage. He says the Friarage will not be closing on his watch.
7.54pm
Richmondshire leader Yvonne Peacock says in the past that older people have been taken to James Cook but the message needs to get out that people sometimes have a choice when they get in an ambulance.
7.50pm
The new model will not save the trust money, says Dr Clements, but will cost £1.7m. Maybe in the trust didn’t trust the Friarage the way it should. We’re now all together trying to do the best for the Friarage, he says. The plan has been designed by the doctors at the Friarage, he adds.
7.43pm
If you are being asked to go to James Cook when there is a clinic for your condition at the Friarage then challenge the decision, Says Dr Dunbar, after being asked about the difficulty faced by some people attending James Cook for clinics.
7.39pm
The temporary closure of the A&E is being discussed. Its only called temporary because of a document from NHS England says Dr Clements. “We can’t call it anything else.” he adds. So it’s not temporary.
7.34pm
The man with the socks is Dr Charles Parker, CCG clinical chair. He says local GPs have been updated and they trust the changes being made.
7.28pm
Following a question about consultation, Dr Clements says as soon as it became apparent that they couldn’t continue safety they went to an emergency plan. He says “events have overcome us” which is why some people may not have been notified of the changes ahead of the decision being announced.
7.27pm
What we’re doing is a little bit cutting edge, says Dr Dunbar, in response to a question about monitoring the impact of the changes from Holly from the Save the Friarage Campaign. He says they will have to scrutinise what is happening and if it adds risk they will have to change it.
7.26pm
There will be more 23hr and day care procedures, Dr Clements stresses. No good reason why people in this postcode should have to go to JC he adds.
7.25pm
How does the closure of the Allerton Surgical Ward fit in, an audience member asks.
7.22pm
Dr Dunbar says they will give us a viable hospital in the future and he is optimistic once “all the politics” has gone and the new system is up and running. Dr Clements says there will be more surgical procedures diverted to the Friarage in the future. The aim is to get more day care procedures at the hospital.
7.18pm
So what’s the Friarage getting in return for losing these services, an audience member asked. Dr Dunbar says lots of smaller cases will come to the Friarage. He says lots of positive things happening at the Northallerton hospital inc new cancer unit.
7.17pm
He’s from the CCG apparently. Pic doesn’t do them justice.
7.15pm
Rishi says his Government has put the same amount, or a little bit more, than has always gone in. He says the need is going up.
7.13pm
Audience suggests Rishi is only hear to “mark his own homework”. “Under-investment from your Government in our NHS,” he adds.
7.11pm
There’s a man on stage who hasn’t said anything yet. Not sure who he. Security perhaps. He has got the jazziest socks on. Will try to get a pic..
7.09pm
“People can criticise us for recruitment but you show them around a block that was built 60 years ago and that doesn’t help,” says Dr Clements, who adds that a new theatre block is needed.
7.08pm
Another audience member says the workforce planning has been very poor in recent years. He also points out that there are no advertisements on the website for medical staff, and when he rang up asking about any vacancies, he was told to go look at the website. Excellent research by this audience member!
7.06pm
Sick children don’t go to the Friarage A&E now, Dr Clements says. He says the treatment is only for minor injuries or illnesses.
7.04pm
What about the children, an audience member asks, who suggests the trust is gambling with the lives of children by these changes.
7.02pm
What about Darlo A&E asks Rishi. In response, Dr Clements says they have been working in partnership with Darlington Memorial for some time. He says Darlington is critical for the new system. He says he doesn’t believe Darlington will change, he adds.
7.01pm
We can’t stop the change, says Dr Clements, because it wouldn’t be safe to do. “We wouldn’t want to make the change but we have to,” he adds.
6.59pm
A member of the audience says people are worried about capacity at James Cook. Dr Clements says in response that they have “grown” the critical care capacity at James Cook.
6.56pm
With heart attacks stroke or major trauma, you could come to the Friarage but you’re more likely to survive if you go to James Cook, says Dr Dunbar.
6.55pm
Dr Dunbar says there will be more ambulance journeys because of these changes but Yorkshire Ambulance Service will allocate two extra ambulance because of the new system.
6.53pm
Dr Clements says that “small” difference is time is worth it to go to James Cook. Audience didn’t like that. Obviously it’s not a small difference if you live in Hawes.
6.51pm
Dr Clements says you wouldn’t go to the Friarage now if you had a heart attack and medicine has moved on. James Cook is the place to go.
6.50pm
A lady says it will take her an hour to get to James Cook if she was having a heart attack.
6.49pm
A plea is made to Rishi and other politicians to sort the NHS workforce issues out, not just anaesthetists but doctors and nursers too.
6.48pm
This is a diagram of the future model for the Friarage.
6.47pm
We can’t run safe services with the number of clinicians we’ve got to, says Dr Clements.
6.45pm
We’ve exhausted our efforts, says Dr Clements. They don’t exist, he adds. Trying to get people working in small units like the Friarage with three or four colleagues is not possible.
6.45pm
Next question: Have you talked to the Minister of State and the GMC for help?
6.44pm
He also says they’ve lost some anaesthetists abroad because they can work less hard and get more money.
6.42pm
Dr James Dunbar says they’ve tried continual ads out and employed recruitment agencies, and other things, inc Facebook and have tried recruiting internationally, but it’s been unsuccessful.
6.40pm
First questions from Lilly at the Save the Friarage Campaign says the trust has betrayed the people by failing to recruit properly, including not looking abroad.
6.39pm
But first here’s that pic..
6.38pm
It’s Q&A time..
6.37pm
There’s been an “unbelievable effort” that has designed a model that provides a sustainable future for the Friarage.
6.35pm
The Friarage in the future will have consultants at the front door (during the daytime). That’s innovative apparently.
The hospital will be an acute hospital that does not rely on 24/7 anaesthetic cover.
Children with minor injuries and minor illness will be treated at the hospital.
6.33pm
In the future the clinician will decide where you’re treated during daytime if you’re referred by a GP or picked up in an ambulance, and it may be the Friarage. At nighttime you will go to the James Cook Hospital.
6.31pm
He says the new model will be used by 90 to 95 per cent of those who currently use the Friarage.
6.30pm
The model for the Friarage we are going to be has been designed over the last 18 months, says the doc. It’s been designed by the people who work at the Friarage, he adds.
6.29pm
He says we have to “stop the uncertainty” surrounding the Friarage. No doctors will come to work at a hospital they think will close, he adds.
6.27pm
He says public engagement started back in 2017. Key issues for residents were local access, accessibility of care and keeping as much as possible at the Friarage.
6.25pm
Dr Adrian Clements, the trust’s deputy chief executive, says they haven’t got enough anaesthetists.
6.23pm
Okay pic will come later. People are talking.
6.20pm
Okay I take that back. People are being let in to stand at the back. Stand by for pic:
6.10pm
Definitely quite a few people not going to get in.
6.05pm
Bit of a bum fight for seats and there seems to be a lot if people in the hallway who aren’t going to get in.
5.58pm
They were queing to get in at 5.30pm. Now people are taking their seats. Among the audience is Carl Les, leader of NYCC, and Richmondshire leader Yvonne Peacock. Holly Wilkinson, from the Save the Friarage Campaign, is also here.
More than 200 people are expected to attend a public meeting tonight to discuss the closure of the A&E at the Friarage.
The meeting is being held at Northallerton School and Sixth Form College, in Grammar School Lane, Northallerton.
With the venue only holding 250, anyone wanting to attend was asked to register in advance.
Rishi Sunak, MP for Richmond, has organised the meeting to discuss the decision taken by the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to temporarily suspend some critical care services and change the A&E department to an Urgent Treatment Centre.
The two key decision makers, Dr Adrian Clements, the trust’s deputy chief executive (and Friarage medical director) and Dr James Dunbar, the Friarage Hospital’s clinical director, are due to attend the meeting.
The doctors will take questions about the circumstances leading to the changes and their plans for the safe delivery of emergency services in the future.
More than 6,000 people have signed a petition against cuts at the Friarage.
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