We pass the 2,500 signature mark!

The Keep Blanche Heriot Unit Open petition has now reached 2,500 signatures! Many thanks to all those who have given their support to our vital campaign and have posted comments explaining just how much the Blanche Heriot Unit means to them. The Blanche Heriot Unit has been serving the population of North Surrey, and many from further afield, for 25 years with specialist diagnostic and treatment services in sexual health, HIV and genitourinary medicine. Many of you have reported on the life-saving and life-enabling support you have received from the wonderful Blanche Heriot staff. These staff are now facing transfer to Central & North West London NHS Trust (CNWL) who are due to take over responsibility for the service on 1 October. CNWL can then redeploy the staff to Redhill, Woking or Guildford and the BHU service will implode despite recent assurances from the commissioners that there will be a transition period with services for HIV and genitourinary patients remaining at St Peter’s. We have no confidence in CNWL. We are receiving alarming reports of failures in the services they are already responsible for in Surrey, they have no systems or processes in place to take over the services at Blanche Heriot, and there is no capacity at Buryfields Clinic, Guildford to take 15,000 attendances from Chertsey even assuming patients could make it there. Six months ago Surrey County Council decided to extend the existing arrangements for sexual health services at St Peter’s Hospital for six months “to allow for sufficient time to exit from the contract safely”. The position has not improved in the six months since then – indeed it has become even more apparent that neither the commissioners nor CNWL have understood the dire consequences for patients of imposing a service model that excludes the Blanche Heriot Unit. That is why we are calling on the commissioners – Surrey County Council and NHS England - to extend the current Blanche Heriot Unit contract for a further six months. This will enable proper engagement to take place with patients, on both an individual and representative basis, and with GPs and other stakeholders, for the continuing provision of a full range of accessible sexual health, HIV and genitourinary medicine services for the people of North Surrey.