Hot topic: Charing Cross hospital

Save Our Hospitals

Specialist Charing Cross will ‘save lives’, says NHS

Plans to create a specialist health and social care hospital at Charing Cross have been agreed in a move that will save hundreds of lives a year, according to NHS North West London.

NHS managers agreed to ditch their original ‘preferred option’ that would have seen the effective closure of Charing Cross Hospital and instead retain a whole host of health services that they say will save around 130 lives a year, at a Joint Board of NHS North West London (NHS NWL) meeting yesterday (Feb 19).

NHS NWL had previously favoured demoting Charing Cross into little more than a polyclinic with all of its major specialisms going elsewhere but has now agreed to pump nearly £90million into a remodelled hospital that would create a centre of excellence for specialist, health and social care services following feedback from their ‘shaping a healthier future’ consultation.

Dr Mark Spencer, Medical Director for Shaping a Healthier Future, said the plans would save lives and improve health services in H&F by providing the highest quality of care at a new specialist hospital that integrates primary, secondary, community, mental health and social care at Charing Cross.

» Read the full story

» Download the 'New proposals for Charing Cross Hospital' information guide (pdf 254KB)
» Download 'The new Charing Cross Hospital - your questions answered' booklet (pdf 217KB)

» Alternative proposals for Charing Cross Hospital site and Ealing Hospital site (NHS NHW website - opens new window)

» Download the Ipsos MORI final report - November 28, 2012 (pdf)
» Download the NHS proposals unsafe and fatally flawed booklet (pdf 1.3MB)
» Download a Save Charing Cross hospital poster (pdf 16KB)
» Download a summary of the NHS hospitals proposals (pdf 109KB)
» Download a map of proposed NHS hospital closures (pdf 527KB)
» Message from Cllr Marcus Ginn, cabinet member for community care

For further information on the campaign email: savecharingcross@lbhf.gov.uk.

Comments:

Here are some comments, please see news stories linked above for more views and to have your say.

I have just developed a rare painful disease and if the hospital was further the bus ride would become unbearable.
Dee

A few years ago my Dad developed pains in his leg. On arrival at Charing X hospital he was taken immediately to the operating theatre where they battled for five hours to clear the blockage and save his leg. In an emergency the A and E facilities are world class. Don't close down this facility.
Anne-Marie Costain

It would be criminal to close this facility, especially after making a large financial investment in it, which is a beacon of excellence and an example to other hospitals.
Anthony Williams

My wife had an embolism (blocked vein) and was taken to A&E at Charing Cross where the registrar diagnosed her condition, ran a scan, started her immediately on medication to break it down. She was touch and go for a week but their rapid intervention saved her life.
Chris

I had kidney stones and I was in extreme pain. We took a taxi to the Charing Cross A&E rather than wait for an ambulance. At age 78, we feel comforted knowing such good emergency help is close by.
Mike

The prospect of losing this security is both worrying and regressive. We need to find ways of making the NHS more efficient, not smaller.
William Mathieson

I have visited Charing Cross A&E on numerous occasions. I was eternally grateful for the help and advice I received.
Michelle

Please save our A&E at Charing Cross Hospital my daughter has been rushed in very sick to this department at least 4/5 times a year in the past ten years and it is crucial it stays there for any future emergencies.
Susan Kelly

Charing Cross is a major teaching hospital serving a wide area. A&E is crucial and there is no other provision within reasonable reach - I've had occasion to visit St Mary's and it takes forever to get there
Shelagh

It needs little imagination to see that survival rates of emergency conditions in Hammersmith + Fulham will be substantially lower if A&E units at either Hammersmith or Charing X Hospital are closed - there would have to be more ambulances but how would they get through the traffic...?
Jane Joseph

I was treated at Charing X for cancer 17 years ago and how glad I was to be so close to home at the time, sick people do not want to travel miles. People will die before they get to Chelsea and Westminster. LEAVE OUR HOSPITAL ALONE. The aim of the trust is to close it for good!
Stellamary

Please don''t shut down these much needed emergency services! If they go, more people will suffer!
John Last

Other hospitals will not cope with the extra numbers and lives will be endangered with the longer journey times! Keep Charing Cross open!!!!
esther

My friend’s life was saved due to this A&E. Please, please don''t close it
Chris

This is a case of bureaucrats making decisions with no knowledge or experience of the services they want to close. Helicopters land easily in Lillie Park with emergency cases--no such thing for Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.
Tamara

Don''t play with lives - in the most literal sense of the word.
Tim

The traffic in the area is so congested at all times, to have to go further in an emergency is unthinkable quite apart from the fact that they too are overloaded.
Barbara Cates

This centre saved the life of a good friend of mine. Closing it would be plain wrong, on any level.
Ian

My friend''s life was saved by Charing Cross, and they are continuing to help him with his recovery from cancer.
Ingrid

Save this hospital! It saved my friend!!
Rowan

This hospital saved my life last summer and have treated me with expertise ever since. They are a leading centre in so many medical areas, and struggle to cope along with Hammersmith as it is, How are Chelsea and Westminster alone going to deal with everyone in this part of London?! This closure is a disgrace.
Piers Moth

Save the charing cross hospital. the best hospital in west london
Zul

Charing Cross is a far more more appopriate centre for A&E than St. Mary's or Chelsea and Westminster due to it's size and location. It would be totally absurb for it to close!
Diana

please do not close the A & E dtpartment at Charing Cross it is vitally needed! I also find it unacceptable that you should consider downgrading it to a local hospital and loose some of the specialist services which have been developed - once they are gone they are lost!
Damian Hart

Charing Cross Hospital is some 20 emergency minutes away from a major incident at Heathrow airport. I wonder what the delay would be in the new system?
Max Lab

This densely populated area of London requires local high quality care and fast access to an A&E centre. It is madness to consider downgrading Charing Cross hospital, especially as evidence would support the community needs.
Pat

My life was saved thanks to CXH A&E. I was brought in by ambulance and in a coma. The surgeon told me that time had been of the essence - I was lucky to have lived locally as a longer or slower journey would probably have resulted in death. Happily I lived to tell the tale. Res ipsa loquitur - [this] thing speaks for itself!
Richard Scott

Which ever hospital has to deal with these extra cases is surely going to suffer. Service standards will deteriorate
Deemat7

I support H & F Council in condemning this short sighted action which would undoubtedly be reversed in the future at a far greater cost.
Quayle

I cannot imagine which statistics are being used to recommend closure of any of the services. They are always full of people when I have been to these hospitals over the years.
S. Pojak

The location of CX AE makes it very important and far more strategic as CW. The plan if it goes ahead will prove to be a false economy.
Karen Liao

Closing this A&E would mean over-burdening others in West London - the people of Hammersmith need this facility. NHS efficiency drives are to do with saving money, not with saving lives.
Jane Thurston-Hoskins

Has anyone tried getting to the Chelsea and Westminster hospital in a hurry, especially during a Chelsea football match?!!
S Jenner

What are planners thinking of!! Have they ever been to C&W Hospital from almost any direction and any time. Fulham Road is permanently gridlocked even for busses and there is no near by underground.I suppose it is a convenient way of having a quiet A&E. And where do patient go when they have to be admitted. ?To ChX. And why was ChX's A&E department been given an overhaul only recently. I do speak out of experience with both hospitals. ChX is by far the more caring hospital And what if there is an accident on the A4 The so called planners are an absolute disgrace. I could go on!!
Dina Harris

Keep Charing Cross Hospital with a full range of departments. I am disabled; it is my nearest hospital and the most accessible one. I have been well looked after in dealing with my cataracts, hammer toes and mastectomy. I remember it being built, serving a great need.
Patricia Owen

Absolutely agree. Charing Cross is a fantastic hospital with very high standard of care, at the forefront of medical technology and life saving equipment. My son was saved there at 3.5 years old after falling under a car. I have just had a laparoscopy on my gall bladder. I cannot believe what a high standard it is. It is clean, friendly and has super nursing and consultant staff.
Ewa Sylwestrowicz

Top of page

Page last updated: 22/03/2013

Hot topic: Charing Cross hospital

Search the site

Help navigation

A to Z of services

Breadcrumbs

Find public services

News Topics

Hot News Topics