A&E at Queen’s Hospital and King George is ‘safe in the short term’, review finds

An external review into A&E at Queen’s Hospital and King George Hospital has found that both departments are safe “in the short term”.

Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) in Havering, Redbridge and Barking and Dagenham commissioned the review last month following concerns about performance and staffing issues.

After visits to the hospitals in Romford and Goodmayes, the London Clinical Senate found that “24 hour A&E services can be maintained on both sites in the short term”.

There was also no evidence that a high number of temporary staff was increasing risk to patients.

Improvements ordered included recruitment plans, strengthening urgent care centres and improving patient flows.

Dr Atul Aggarwal, chairman of Havering CCG, said: “This doesn’t alter our longer term plans to close A&E at King George and move those services to Queen’s hospital when it is clinically safe to do so, in line with existing plans to improve A&E services for all our patients.”

Averil Dongworth, chief executive of Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We welcome the review and hope that it will reassure our patients that we are offering safe, high quality care in our emergency departments.”

The review is not finished and a full report is expected towards the end of the month.