Heartlands hospital needs a lifeline
At the last full council meeting, Cllr Tilsley explained that on a visit to the department, he and colleagues saw queues coming out of the doors of the accident and emergency department. The queues were the “walking wounded”, waiting to be booked in by reception.
Cllr Tilsley added that as a patient, he was treated in a store room due to a serious lack of space. He praised health professionals, and sympathised with the fact that they have inadequate resources to meet demand for around 400,000 patients in the East Birmingham area.
He compared the hospital to the Queen Elizabeth that serves the west of the city, and offers “a much better all-round experience”.
“The problem in the East of the City is multi-faceted” said Cllr Tilsley “there are not enough GP’s, and not enough appointments to go around, and so a lot of people end up in A&E. Deprivation creates poor health outcomes, and with a population that is ageing and growing exponentially, the problems are set to get worse.”
“Coupled to this, we know that the City council’s finances are in a dire state. Adult Social Care is having to make service cuts and efficiencies which will have direct and indirect consequences on patient’s ability to return home safely”
“The site is landlocked, so it needs to be re-engineered to support a larger population. If it is to improve, it will need significant investment from the Government.
“That’s why the Liberal Democrats are campaigning for Government funding to redevelop the service.”
The Liberal Democrat motion passed with cross party support.
Urgent and emergency services at Heartlands are currently rated as “requires improvement”
Support our campaign - sign our petition here:
https://www.birminghamlibdems.org.uk/our-campaigns/heartlands-petition
Watch our campaign video: