Praise For Chase Farm

    “CHASE Farm Hospital is officially one of the best places in the country to have a baby, yet its maternity services are among the first in line to be reduced.”

   This is what Enfield’s local newspaper said when Barnet and Chase Farm hospital were ranked top 19th for its maternity care. The Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST) ranked hospitals around England and Wales in search of the best maternity care given by hospitals.

   This naturally comes as good news when considering the fact that most of the maternity cases in Barnet are transfered to Chase Farm due to ‘insufficient staff’. This in fact may cause various problems for Chase Farm, a noticable factor is the issue over the hospital’s Accident and Emmergency situation.

  However, this may give Chase Farm a much needed life-line in the batte to save its A&E, it was also revealed that the childcare and maternity sections are in the Secretary of State for Communities and Housing Caroline Flint’s plans. If these plans are approved and the A&E service is to be closed down, then various problems occur.

   The most obvious one is that it jeopordizes the people living close or around the Hospital. If Chase Farm Hospital’s A&E services close it means that the next available A&E is Middlesex Hospital, which is just over five miles away. Potential patients would have to figure out routes to get to the A&E in time, it would take them almost half an hour to get to the A&E in an emergency case.  Not only are the peole caught up in this, ambulancce services would be forced to venture further for emergency cases, get caught up in traffic jams and lose valuable time.

 So, amid the praise and positive feedback Chase Farm has recieved there is that growing issue of the closure to vital services in the area. The councils are urging the government and the NHS to review their plans, but it appears that these pleas are not budging the plans.