Dear colleague

In January we launched our campaign to secure the £35million in funding we need to transform our A&E at Queen’s Hospital.

It was designed in 2006 to care for a maximum of 325 people a day. We now see, on average, more than double that and on one day in March, we saw 813 seek urgent and emergency care at Queen’s alone. It was our busiest month to date (31,186 attendances across sites) and we’re getting busier month on month.

The result is patients facing long waits and being cared for in our corridors, which is unacceptable for them and their families, and is distressing for our staff who are doing a great job in very difficult circumstances. It also costs us £100k a month in additional staffing at a time when our financial challenges are greater than ever.

The need for a new department is more pressing by the day and I’m incredibly grateful for the support our local MPs have shown us. 

Margaret Mullane (Dagenham and Rainham) has launched a petition; Andrew Rosindell (Romford) is seeking a meeting with Karin Smyth, Minister of State for Health; and Alex Burghart (Brentwood and Ongar) is writing to Wes Streeting, Secretary of State for Health and MP for Ilford North. During her visit to our A&E, Nesil Caliskan (Barking) expressed her support for our campaign.     

And in Parliament, Julia Lopez (Hornchurch and Upminster) raised the issue. Mr Streeting responded: “As she alluded to, this A&E serves my constituents too, so this will be a rare occasion where, at the dispatch box, I urge her and encourage her to lobby my Honourable Friend the Minister of State for Health, because in such decisions I must recuse myself, but she’ll know where my sympathies lie.” 

In her written response to Ms Lopez, the Health Minister spoke about the importance of public support, and it would be much appreciated if you would contact your local MP to show yours. You can contact them through our website. 

I hope we have positive news soon for our patients and staff, all of whom who deserve better.

As I mentioned, the money is extremely difficult – we are anticipating having to make around £60m of savings, around £5m a month which is double the amount we’ve had to save in the previous two years. 

We’re focusing on reducing the £90m bill we face for bank and agency staff and reducing our non-staff costs (drugs, medical equipment etc). 

We know we need to make some difficult decisions over the weeks and months ahead, and there are challenges around urgent and emergency care, and waiting lists for planned treatment. Despite these challenges, however, I’m pleased to finish on the positive note that we expect to meet the latest performance targets set out by NHS England in this year’s planning guidance. 

This includes 71.6% of our patients receiving treatment within 18 weeks; compliance with the national cancer standards; and ensuring at least 78% of patients are seen within four hours in our A&Es. 

Have a great weekend.

Best wishes,

Matthew Trainer

Chief Executive