Kate Osamor: The risk of closure at my local A&E shows the Tories’ failure to protect our NHS

I am extremely concerned and saddened that the A&E department of North Middlesex Hospital, based in my constituency, is facing closure on safety grounds. If the move to close the department goes ahead, it will be the first time in the 68-year history of the NHS that an emergency department has had to shut because it is a danger to patients.

The news that the future of the hospital is in jeopardy broke following unprecedented warnings from the General Medical Council and Health Education England that 500 patients a day are at risk of suffering harm. Such is the worry from the GMC about patients being harmed that on 20 May, for the first time, it sent a pre-statutory letter threatening to remove the 26 junior doctors in A&E. Health Education England identified eight major failings at the hospital during a “quality visit” on 15-16 March and have threatened to use their own powers to stop the junior doctors working there.

The situation at North Middlesex Hospital exemplifies the government’s failure to listen to health professionals and many members of this House, who have, like me, raised their concerns that not enough was being done to support accident and emergency in this country. It is a failure on the part of the government to act to save our NHS.

There have been a catalogue of failures in this department. In December 2015, there was a, still unexplained, death in A&E and in January, the Department received a Notification of Risk Summit.

Chronically long waiting times have been reported in 2016; these reached crisis point on 19 February when patients were reported to have been left for up to seven hours on hospital trolleys, and medics came under such extreme pressure that they were forced at 11pm to put a message over a Tannoy advising people to go home. This was well-reported by national media; the Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail, the Independent. Concerns about the safety and quality of care in the department have been raised on the floor of the Commons and in private meetings, and yet the Government still did not act. The latest warnings from the GMC and HEE are the culmination of months of concerns, to which the Government has turned a blind eye.

The hospital has suffered enormously as a result of the chronic lack of A&E doctors, struggling to recruit medical staff as a result. It is at the sharp end of this government’s gamble with our NHS and patient safety. It is of grave concern to myself and my constituents, whose safety is at risk.

But it also speaks to the larger concerns that are facing our NHS across England, with A&Es across the country failing to hit their waiting time targets and facing a shortage of staff. Leaving hospitals to suffer until they reach breaking point and letting crises such as that of North Middlesex Hospital unfold under national scrutiny is irresponsible and shows a lack of respect for the work of our doctors, and for the safety of our patients.

How long can the government continue to ignore this crisis? For my constituents of Edmonton, the time to act is long overdue.