Margate Central councillor Helen Whitehead will be doing a ‘sponsored shave’ to raise money for the judicial review into the decision by NHS bosses to replace six stroke units in Kent with three hyper-acute units.
The move will mean the closure of the stroke unit in Margate’s QEQM hospital, with the nearest hyper-acute unit at Ashford.
Campaign group SONIK (Save Our NHS in Kent), which Helen is a member of, have launched a legal challenge against the decision, and need to raise £15,000 to ensure their case gets to court.
The latest fundraiser might raise eyebrows in the council chamber, as Cllr Whitehead aims to shave off her hair, and dye the remaining stubble in a colour to be chosen by the donors to the GoFundMe page.
Helen’s head will only be shaved if the £1,200 total is reached and the ‘big trim’ will take place in front of an audience at a public place in Margate – location to be confirmed.
Cllr Whitehead said: “I’m determined to ensure that QEQM keeps the services we need and the Judicial Review is now the best way to do it. We need to hit our target of £15,000 and having a bit of fun whilst doing it and getting people involved seems like a great way to do it.
“If we lose our stroke service, we could be looking at losing linked services; this is the frontline for QEQM, and we all need to do everything we can to keep the services we need.
“Please, if you can, donate what you can; and make sure to choose a colour and have fun with this!”
The GoFundMe page can be found here
A spokesperson for Save Our NHS in Kent said “Three HASUs (stroke units) for all of Kent is not enough and Thanet made that message clear in the public consultation last year. But we have been ignored, and now we need the whole community to come together and help us to keep fighting”.
The group also have a benefit gig organised for the evening of Saturday, June 29, with popular local band Charlie Don’t Surf and DJ Mark. The band are playing at Elsewhere in Margate, entry is £5 and funds go towards the legal fees for the judicial review.
Event page here
Later in the summer, SONIK is also planning to ‘Hold Hands for the Hospital’ – a protest on Saturday August 3 outside QEQM, in which protesters will be asked to form a chain holding hands “to symbolise the community’s wish to protect the QEQM, the hospital we rely on and value very much”.
Event page here
Kent and Medway consultants say:
Kent and Medway stroke consultants say larger, specialist units in other parts of the country have been shown to improve outcomes for people who have had a stroke.
They point to Northumberland which went from three stroke units to one HASU for the whole area in 2015.
A spokesperson for the stroke review team said: “Some patients travel over 60 miles to get there – a journey that takes well over an hour. Because the Northumberland HASU has dedicated staff and scanners available 24/7, the time taken to give people clot-busting drugs after arriving at hospital has reduced by over 25 minutes, and over 80% of patients get them within an hour of arriving at hospital.
“There has been no increase in deaths and patients in Northumberland go home on average four days sooner since the HASU was set up. This is because they are recovering faster due to the better care and support they get.”
SONIK contests the Northumberland example saying there were no improvements to death and disability and that these remained at the same level.
SONIK member Carl Jeffrey said: “£95m was spent on the reconfiguration, but there was no change in the death and disability outcomes over the 4 years and 9 months that it was monitored. The length of stay was shortened, which allowed them to save money. The changes didn’t lengthen journey times for anyone in the population served, as the existing units were all close together in the only urban conurbation in the region. Importantly, the Northumbria reconfiguration did not leave 10% of the country with a 60 minute journey, which will be the case in Kent.”
Save Our NHS in Kent are not giving up, we are still fighting for the stroke unit. Helen came up with this excelelnt idea to help us raise some more money – we hope people will share it far and wide so we can get enough funds to cover our legal fees. The stroke unit is so important, as once it’s gone, it will mean a one hour journey in an ambulance for emergency, life or death health care for stroke patients. Adding ambulances response time and loading, it could be 2 hours by the time a petient arrives at Ashford. The A&E and maternity services are next. And after that, who knows, maybe the whole hospital. The hospital serves the 145,000 people in Thanet and many in Herne Bay, Deal and Canterbury areas. It employs 2,000 people. We need it, and we have to fight for it.
Brilliant idea, sonik is fighting for all of us, please give generously
What evidence do you have that all the other services at QEQM will go and ‘even the whole hospital’, as you state.
Personally I would much rather be treated at a dedicated stroke unit. Why do you continually ignore the evidence from Northumberland?
I do feel there is a lot of scaremongering about QEQM.
Hello;
Firstly, the QEQM is a dedicated stroke unit. And we are trying to ensure that a Hyper Acute Unit is based here without disadvantaging other areas.
Secondly, the Northumberland evidence isn’t applicable for our geography, our demographics, or our transport system. Studies need to compare like with like in as much as is possible. And the Northumberland study also showed that there was no improvement in death or disability outcomes.
It isn’t ignoring evidence; to the contrary.
So this statement in the article is incorrect?
“There has been no increase in deaths and patients in Northumberland go home on average four days sooner since the HASU was set up. This is because they are recovering faster due to the better care and support they get.”
Sandra, there has been no increase in deaths because the journey times have not changed. This is stated very clearly in the Northumbria study – there was no before and after change to journey times there, so what they are saying is meaningless. We have discussed this in the SONIK Report and in our SONIK briefings. The link is in a pinned post at the top of our facebook page – but here it is for you: SONIK Stroke Report (see Section B) https://bit.ly/2NdADsH. In Northumbria, there were no improvements to the two metrics that matter most – death and disability: they stayed the same. £95m was spent on the reconfiguration, but there was no change in the death and disability outcomes over the 4 years and 9 months that it was monitored. The length of stay was shortened, which allowed them to save money – which, given that it didn’t affect journey times for anyone in the population served, could be argued to be a good idea. But the Northumbria reconfiguration did not leave 10% of the country with a 60 minute journey (which will be the case in Kent) – as already explained. https://www.dropbox.com/s/vgzum7dq48gxiv0/%2AThe%20Centralisation%20Myth_%20briefing%20on%20studies%20used%20in%20centralisation%20public%20consultations.pdf?dl=0
Hi Sandra, glad you asked about Northumberland. We have covered this before, but let me explain again: their use of the Northumberland/Northumbria study is highly disingenuous. The travel times are much lower than Thanet for the VAST majority of the population; pop density maps show that the amount of ppl living in the 50, 60, 70 min zone is an exceptionally tiny amount – nearly all the residents are clustered in a densely populated area close to all the hospitals (with and without HASUs) and on the outskirts of Newcastle and Gateshead. This is why the journey times did not change for patients pre and post HASU implementation – this is stated in the study. Mortality didn’t rise as a result of the change, because the journey times did not change. The mortality results also *did not improve*. There is also a hospital that has an ASU just over the Scottish border that is nearer the patients in the 70 min zone – I phoned the Hospital, and asked if they took patients from across the border in England – they replied that they did. The population in Thanet is 145,000, so it simply isn’t comparable to talk about our population facing a long journey in comparison with the tiny rural population in the north of Northumberland/Northumbria, which is the least densely populated region in England. We have put this point to the NHSmanagers, but they keep using it anyway despite it being a useless comparison. They have to – they don’t have any arguments that actually hold water.
Sonik have been fighting since Day 1 to save vital NHSservices in East Kent, against a very powerful government who would deprive our residents of the health care they need. I support Sonik in any way I can, please do the same Thanet people! Together we have power.
Perhaps other local politicians will take up the challenge with as much personal courage as Helen has displayed.
Please support Save Our NHS in Kent in any way that you can. Helens action to raise much needed funds for the judicial review is a brave move to help C
I’m guessing that ‘Sandra’ is a paid shill working on behalf of those that want the QEQM unit closed.
Perhaps she could enlighten us on the plans to ‘restructure’ A&E provision in the area.
Big up Helen Whitehead and SONIK for their efforts, fighting on behalf of all of Thanet’s residents.
Dear Matthew Smyth.
I have no connection with the health services in Kent apart from when I use them as a patient.
How dare you suggest I am somehow being paid by the NHS to support their plans.
I am entitled to an opinion even if it is contrary to yours.