The
primary aim of our Campaign is an immediate stop to
the transfer of services to Edinburgh. It is our belief
that Lothian is served best by TWO acute, emergency
hospitals – St. John’s and Edinburgh’s
Royal Infirmary.
It
is essential that services in both hospitals are made
safe and sustainable. This is clinically and ethically
appropriate. It will allow also the overwhelming majority
of Lothian’s population to enjoy high quality
emergency services close to their homes. On the St John’s
site this will require a considerable enhancement of
the existing catchment area from 170000 to at least
250000. Moreover, St John’s will need to provide
a mix of local and regional services. The latter should
include a component of emergency general surgery. This
in turn will provide support for Intensive Care, Accident
and Emergency and the Medical Unit.
Thanks
to the dedication and hard work from our friends in
the Action to Save St John’s Hospital Party (www.atssjh.org.uk),
we have been successful in retaining existing services
at St. John’s, facilitating millions of pounds
of investment in the hospital and removing parking charges
totally for the patients, visitors and staff. Through
public activism we have helped create a stakeholder
group whereby the public in West Lothian can influence
change at St. John’s through Council representatives.
We
intend to build on St John’s existing strengths
while providing relief to Edinburgh’s hard-pressed
Royal Infirmary. Edinburgh Royal Infirmary cannot cope
with its workload and it fails continually to admit
its patients promptly. Repatriation of services away
from Edinburgh back to St. John’s coupled with
rezoning will help it provide more equitable health
care in Lothian and support Edinburgh’s failing
Royal Infirmary.
As
services return to St John’s it is inevitable
that the infrastructure will need to be built up. In
this way, we would hope to see the return of specialised
laboratory services such as Pathology, and the Mortuary.
Be patient! Progress will be slow. However, what matters
is the destination! We are working towards re-establishing
St John’s as a fully-fledged, fully-staffed emergency
general hospital which will evolve to meet the long-term
needs of the rapidly expanding local population as well
as making a significant contribution to the totality
of health care across the whole of Lothian.
