THE Alex will not disappear from the political agenda following this election, Neal Stote, the National Health Action Party candidate predicted.
Mr Stote the former chairman of Save the Alex campaign said the winner in Redditch, Rachel Maclean of the Conservative Party, ‘and clearly promised to fight for services at the Alex both at the hustings and on her Facebook page’.
Speaking minutes after the result of the Redditch vote was announced, he said: “Rachel Maclean will claim an early win when the £29 million promised by the government is released.
“But she has said that A&E will not be downgraded, yet the clinical commissioning group meets in July and we will see what happens when we are left with a GP Urgent Care Centre.
“We used to have a full A&E treating both adults and children and Rachel has said it will not be downgraded, yet a service which treats mild or moderate cases is not an A&E.”
He also voiced fears about the long term sustainability of a 24 hour A&E in Redditch.
“There is a concern on how we maintain the A&E we have; it’s not fully staffed anywhere near Royal College guidelines and there is a risk it will become an 8am to 8pm service.
“The health trust will justify this by saying their has been a fall in admissions, but this would be down to patients being taken elsewhere or choosing to go elsewhere.”
