Health bosses rule out reopening Wycombe Hospital A&E

It comes despite fresh calls to restore the department after the hospital's £25 million cash injection from the Government.

The Government funding will push ahead with the hospital’s landmark redevelopment, including a new six-storey building for cardiology, stroke, theatre and endoscopy services.

Independent Buckinghamshire councillor Khalil Ahmed accepts the money is not intended for an A&E but argues the scale of the hospital’s transformation means the idea should be reassessed.

His petition calling for the return of a full A&E has attracted around 11,300 signatures.

Cllr Ahmed and Cllr Trevor Snaith previously met trust chief executive Raghuv Bhasin and Dr Andrew McLaren to discuss Wycombe’s emergency healthcare provision.

They were told that restoring an A&E was not under consideration, with funding, staffing, patient numbers and the wider organisation of emergency services cited as obstacles.

Cllr Ahmed said: “The residents of Wycombe deserve an answer based on the hospital and population we have today, and the hospital we are planning for tomorrow, rather than simply relying on decisions made more than 20 years ago.”

The latest funding follows £20million received from the Government last year and marks the next stage of what Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust has described as one of the county’s largest healthcare infrastructure projects.

The trust has reaffirmed its position that there are “no plans” to reopen the full A&E, which closed two decades ago.

It said re-establishing a small A&E would not be clinically or financially viable and would require significant capital and revenue investment which it did not have.

Health bosses also warned that recruiting the necessary specialist staff would be extremely difficult.

They said reopening the department could displace existing services, undermine Wycombe’s nationally accredited role as a hub for planned care and increase waiting times.

A trust spokeswoman said: “Modern urgent and emergency care is built around large specialist centres that deliver the best outcomes by co-locating large clinical teams, supported by strong local urgent care.”

Work is already under way across the footprint of the new hospital building, with groundworks expected to finish by the end of the year.

The next major phase will see structural steelwork craned into place, taking the development above ground for the first time.

The first phase will provide a new endoscopy unit, while the latest funding will allow the trust to continue planning and designing future phases.

Mr Bhasin described the funding as a “strong vote of confidence” in the trust’s plans and said the redevelopment represented a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to improve healthcare facilities.

Wycombe MP Emma Reynolds also stressed that the £25million was for the existing redevelopment programme, not a new A&E.

She said: “I understand why many local people would like to see a full A&E return to Wycombe, particularly as our town continues to grow.

“However, decisions about emergency care are made by the NHS based on clinical evidence, patient outcomes and workforce considerations, not by politicians.”

Ms Reynolds said the challenges which led to emergency services being concentrated at larger neighbouring hospitals remained significant.

She added that patients facing life-threatening emergencies benefit from access to the specialist staff and facilities available at those hospitals.

Cllr Ahmed has called on the MP to seek answers from the Government and NHS about whether the previous assessment remains valid given Wycombe’s growth and the hospital’s redevelopment.

He said: “If the answer remains no, then residents deserve to know precisely why, based on the circumstances of Wycombe today and the future needs of our growing community.”