Nick de Bois, Enfield North MP
The Health Secretary has backed calls to extend opening hours at an Enfield hospital, a year after the local A&E unit was closed down.
Jeremy Hunt told local MPs Nick de Bois and David Burrowes last week that extending the opening hours at Chase Farm Hospital’s Urgent Care Centre “may be justified”.
The centre, which opened in October 2013, treats people who have non-life threatening injuries. It was opened to take the strain off accident and emergency units at nearby Barnet and North Middlesex Hospitals.
Chase Farm’s own A&E unit was closed in December last year, despite widespread local opposition. If the proposal is accepted, the Urgent Care Centre will open from 8am to 10pm daily. It is currently open between 9am and 9pm.
But despite Mr Hunt’s support, any decision to extend opening hours rests not with him but with Enfield’s clinical commissioning group, a panel of local doctors.
A spokeswoman for the group said: “The priority for Enfield CCG is to ensure our residents have the right access to urgent care, at the right time and the right place. We continually review our services, and as part of our work on winter resilience planning we are looking at a number of areas such as the possibility of extending the opening hours of the Urgent Care Centre at Chase Farm Hospital.
“We are in discussion with the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, who run Chase Farm – however the decision on this has not yet been made. Once the decision has been made, the outcome, including any changes that may be made as a result, will be fully communicated to Enfield residents.”
Nick de Bois said: “As we approach winter it’s important that residents have increased access to urgent care and I think we made a strong case to NHS London and the Minister for extending the opening hours at Chase Farm. I expect a decision soon.”
Mr Burrowes added: “It is good to have secured Government support for considering an extension and allocating extra money for our local NHS over the winter. Now we need local doctors to give their approval as soon as possible.”
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