Sinking feeling

They said it when they closed Leigh's accident/emergency unit, but we are now told they have the worst record in the North West for having to wait for treatment at Wigan.

Then we have the fiasco over ambulance provision to get you there in an emergency. Twice to my knowledge patients have been told by their doctor to make their own way to Wigan in an emergency situation. One had suspected appendicitis, the other was suffering from an attack of angina, warranting months off work.

Incidentally, this person then had to wait hours for an emergency bed to be admitted, all this after his wife had managed to get someone to drive him there.

Now we are once again told "no patients will have to suffer in the Leigh area" following decision to close down beds at Leigh Infirmary. Beds occupied, in the main, by elderly patients.

Have these people no shame. They cannot even provide adequate car parking for those fortunate to have their own transport, never mind give us peace of mind.

Tony Blair has promised to axe the deadwood in the NHS;, perhaps he should start with the Wigan & Leigh Trust management.

This before they woodenly continue to make decisions putting our health and lives at risk here in Leigh and making it hell for relatives to visit patients at Wigan.

What do our local MPs have to say?

Worried

Name and

address supplied

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.