It’s Too Far and It Won’t Fit!

The commissioners and their chosen service provider, Central & North West London NHS Trust (CNWL), expect patients who attend the Blanche Heriot Unit to go instead to Buryfields Clinic, Guildford. Let’s unpick this. The Blanche Heriot Unit (BHU) is a purpose designed and equipped sexual health, HIV and genito-urinary medicine facility that has been serving the population of North West Surrey for 25 years. It has around 15,000 patient attendances per annum. It is on the St Peter’s Hospital, Chertsey site and has long-established and essential clinical links to such departments as Maternity, Obstetrics & Gynaecology, Dermatology, Pain Management, Physiotherapy, Pathology, A&E. If patients, particularly those with HIV, require acute admission because of co-morbidities, Dr Pritchard and her clinical colleagues can advise the admitting teams directly and retain clinical oversight of the patients. The BHU is at ground level – no ramps, lifts or stairs for patients to negotiate. It is a discreet facility – patients can attend there in the knowledge that they will not be mingling with patients attending other clinics. It has around 25 staff, 5 consulting rooms, 1 nurses’ laboratory, 1 room for taking bloods, 1 Health Advisor consulting room, 1 Health Advisor office, 1 confidential clerking-in room. 2 patient waiting rooms, 1 quiet room, 1 large office for clinical staff, 1 staff rest room plus toilets and circulation space. St Peter’s Hospital enjoys excellent road access. The Blanche Heriot Unit itself has 10 designated disabled parking spaces immediately outside the entrance to the building. There is ample parking nearby in the Abbey Wing car park, the OPD car park and the car park off the main entrance to the hospital. St Peter’s also has direct bus services In marked contrast, Buryfields Clinic is in a residential street off the Portsmouth Road heading out of Guildford. It is not signposted. There is no designated parking. Street parking is available but is already fully utilised. There are two designated disabled parking bays immediately outside the Clinic – it is not known how well these are “policed”. Buryfields is not on a bus route and it is 15-20 minutes walk uphill from Guildford station. One of the campaign supporters has asked on the petition site – “has CNWL assumed that patients who are ill, or dependent on public transport, will be able to make significant journeys (taking at least 90 minutes each way)?” We know the answer to this is yes, because they didn’t think Guildford looked that far from Chertsey on a map of Surrey! Access to Buryfields for mobility impaired patients, assuming they can get there in the first place, is poor requiring the use of an inclined dog-legged ramp with a 90 degree turn in order to reach the side entrance. The sexual health clinic is on the top floor of the 3 storey building requiring the use of a lift. The premises are shared with a GP practice (separate entrance), a dental clinic and a paediatric speech and language therapy service. There is no room for expansion. In short, Buryfields Clinic is too far away and the services from BHU cannot possibly be fitted in. The commissioners and CNWL seem to think that some patients might go to Redhill (which is laughable given that is even further from Chertsey and even less accessible by public transport) and Woking (where the sexual health service is far more limited than that available at BHU and competes for space with several other outpatient clinics). They also cling to the idea that a few “outreach” clinics and a programme of self-testing will compensate for the loss of the BHU facility. The real concern is that patients will simply give up trying to access services that are too remote, with serious consequences for unintended pregnancies and undiagnosed sexually transmitted diseases. There are two upcoming meetings where patients can make their voice heard: Monday 4 September, 10.00am - Surrey County Council Adults & Health Select Committee at County Hall, Kingston; Saturday 9 September, 10.30am – Patients Information & Discussion Event, Chertsey House, St Peter’s Hospital.