Stafford hospital crisis: Long journeys for parents to find A&E

One campaigner believes people are being 'sent from pillar to post' and there are concerns people may not know where to take their children.

The nearest A&E department to County Hospital is at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.

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People travelling from Stafford face a 17-mile journey which is likely to take more than 30 minutes and parents or ambulances could find themselves battling against severe traffic on the M6.

The next nearest option would be the Royal Stoke University Hospital in Newcastle-under-Lyme which is 18 miles away, followed by Walsall Manor Hospital a further mile away still, and finally the Princess Royal Hospital which is 22 miles away on the other side of Telford.

Cheryl Porter, from the Support Stafford Hospital group, said the situation was further complicated by the fact the Royal Stoke University Hospital was frequently busy. She said: "People from Stafford go up to Stoke, are told they can't get in. Then you get shunted to either Wolverhampton or Walsall. It is being sent from pillar to post. If truth be told I don't know where to go anymore.

"I have been to Stafford four times this summer with my son Leo. Now they are not accepting anyone." A&E services for children were suspended at County Hospital on Thursday after it was branded as 'not clinically safe'. Chiefs have been unable to say when it would reopen.

The closure, which came into effect from 10am on Thursday, has been forced by a shortage of staff with specialist training in paediatrics and anaesthetics, including resuscitation and life-support, the trust said.

University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust spokesman, Andrew Ashcroft, said the trust was unable to say exactly how many children attended County Hospital's A&E on Thursday because visitor data was not broken down into age ranges on a daily basis.

However he said A&E staff were working on a report to assess the initial impact and they would have a better idea of the fallout by early next week. Mr Ashcroft added the youngsters who were taken to the Weston Road site were cared for by staff before being referred to other services and he reiterated the trust's appeal for parents to take youngsters requiring emergency treatment elsewhere.

For Staffordshire residents living outside Stafford, the journey to their nearest A&E department could be even further. It's a 14-mile journey from Burntwood to New Cross Hospital at Wolverhampton or a 16 mile journey to Walsall Manor Hospital. And those living in Rugeley would have to go nearly 16 miles to New Cross or nearly 17 to Walsall Manor. A spokeswoman for Walsall Manor Hospital said they had not experienced any impact on their A&E department following the children's closure at Stafford.

While a spokesman for New Cross Hospital said data was not yet available to see if the Stafford closure has had an impact.

George Adamson, leader of Cannock Chase District Council, said: "

It is about 10 miles from Cannock to New Cross and the Manor. The distances are about the same as they are to Stafford. People from Cannock won't go to Stoke.

"So I don't think distance will be too much of a problem, but it is a case of whether those hospitals can handle the extra demand.

"You would have hoped the trust will have been in consultation with their neighbouring NHS partners so they could put contingency plans in place."

The Government has been criticised for not ensuring the NHS has enough properly trained staff following the shock suspension of children's A&E services in Stafford.

Staffordshire County Council's Labour Group leader, Sue Woodwards, claimed the move would result in a drastic cut to child health professionals in Staffordshire, in direct contradiction of the Government's vow to ensure there were more.

The British Medical Association said the suspension of services was proof Whitehall chiefs did not have a solution to the 'staffing crisis' in the NHS. Councillor Woodward said: "This is yet another blow for health care for children and their families in Staffordshire and the wider county. It is a very sad day for Staffordshire. We are also about to see significant cuts to other children's services in Staffordshire as the county council struggles to make extra savings in child health care.

"These changes will drastically cut numbers of child health professionals across the county, in complete opposition to the Government's promises to increase the number of health visitors for example." Dr Anthea Mowat, chair of the BMA's Representative Body, said the closure was another example of patients being failed because the government did not appear to have a solution to an NHS workforce crisis.

"Doctors always want to deliver the best possible care for our patients but increasing demand has not been matched with investment," she said. "Emergency medicine in particular is experiencing a recruitment and retention crisis. This is crippling at a time when we need more of these doctors."