On 5th August 2019 children’s A&E services in South Tyneside Hospital will close between the hours of 10pm and 8am. Local health bodies have carried out an astonishing mass leafleting and advertising campaign to keep children away from the hospital. As a result thousands of very sick children from one of the poorest areas of the country will now need to travel across the river from South Tyneside to Sunderland. Instead of being able to access the Children's A&E within minutes in an emergency, they will be more than 30 minutes away by car or will need to take at least two buses to reach Sunderland Royal.
The hospital’s trust is also planning to downgrade full maternity services, closing the Special Care Baby Unit (SCBU) and leaving only a midwife led unit. It has already closed stroke services in advance of consultation.
This is an oft repeated pattern nationwide. When NHS England (NHSE) and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) and trust managers decide they want to close a hospital and associated services they do it by attrition, bit by bit, to slow down and overcome public opposition. The closure of a baby unit, the removal of A&E children’s services, the downgrading of a maternity services or the removal of acute orthopaedics spells the end of the A&E department and leads to the closure of many departments and with them the end of the district general hospital (DGH). This is because a DGH is not viable without core acute and emergency services.
