"Human A&E Queue" - Tuesday Market Place this Saturday + Councillors speak as one for QEH + UPDATE
Dear Friends and Supporters,
STAND UP FOR QEH
This Saturday, our community is coming together to show just how much the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and its vital services mean to the people it serves.
📅 Saturday 17 October 2026
⏰ 11:30am (only 30min to midday)
📍 Tuesday Market Place, King’s Lynn (then snaking around the pedestrianised areas all the way to the Saturday Market Place if we can... )
COME AND JOIN THE HUMAN A&E QUEUE
One of the most powerful parts of Saturday’s gathering will be a Human A&E Queue — people standing together to demonstrate the communities and families who depend on emergency services at QEH.
We want that queue to stretch across Tuesday Market Place.
And we need YOU to be part of it.
PLEASE BRING ONE A4 SHEET OF PAPER
On your A4 sheet, write or print in BIG, BOLD LETTERS:
YOUR TOWN OR VILLAGE
___ MINUTES TO QEH
___ MINUTES TO NORFOLK & NORWICH
Then bring it with you and hold it up as part of the Human A&E Queue.
Imagine hundreds of people standing together, each holding the name of their community and the journey times they face. From towns and villages across West Norfolk and the wider QEH area, those signs will tell a powerful story. In an emergency, time is critical. For many communities, the difference between travelling to QEH and travelling considerably further for emergency hospital treatment matters. But this campaign is not just about A&E. Concerns have also been raised about the future of other vital acute services, including:
❤️ Maternity
🚑 A&E / Emergency Care
🏥 Intensive Care / Critical Care
🩺 General & Emergency Surgery
The hospital group is developing its long-term clinical strategy and considering options for how services could be provided in the future. No final decisions have been made. That is why this is the time for the communities who depend on QEH to make their voices heard. We will be joined by our MP James Wild and local councillors. There will be a free sticker for everyone who takes part. The press and media have been encouraged to attend. Please do speak with them and tell them your thoughts and concerns. Take loads of pictures and share them across social media.
For health and safety purposes and as per our risk assessment, please listen to stewards and police if requested, keep away from shop entrances and vehicle areas at all times, keep emergency access clear, create gaps where needed, watch for trip hazards and curbs, this is a calm and peaceful family event, please disperse at midday.
Councillors Come Together for the QEH
Following the unanimous decision of Full Council on 24 September, the Borough Council of King’s Lynn & West Norfolk has written formally to the Norfolk and Waveney University Hospitals Group seeking clear assurances about the future of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH). Councillors came together across the political divide to send this united message to the trust, as seen in the picture above.
The letter, sent by Council Leader Cllr Alistair Beales, which can be seen here makes clear that while the planned new hospital is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for West Norfolk, it must be accompanied by a firm commitment to retain QEH as a full District General Hospital.
The Council is seeking assurances that the new hospital and future clinical strategies will maintain the complete range of acute and supporting services our community needs. This includes 24/7 A&E, acute medicine, emergency general surgery, critical care, anaesthesia and emergency theatres, consultant-led maternity and obstetrics, paediatrics and appropriate neonatal care, trauma and orthopaedics, stroke services, core acute medical specialties and comprehensive diagnostics.
The letter also asks for confirmation that greater collaboration between hospitals across the new Group will be used to strengthen services in King’s Lynn wherever possible, rather than centralising or transferring services which are essential to QEH’s role as a District General Hospital.
This matters enormously for West Norfolk. Our geography, travel distances to other acute hospitals and reliance on local emergency, maternity, diagnostic and outpatient care mean that any loss of core services could have serious consequences for patients and communities.
The Council has therefore asked for a clear commitment that QEH will remain a comprehensive District General Hospital, both through the development of the new hospital and in future decisions about how NHS services are organised.
Cllr Alistair Beales said in his letter that, given the importance of the issue to patients, staff and communities across West Norfolk, the Council wants a clear statement from the Group confirming that commitment.
The message from the Council is clear: a new hospital for King’s Lynn must also mean a strong, comprehensive District General Hospital for West Norfolk for generations to come.
Healthwatch Norfolk Survey - Thank you to everyone who has responded
In our update on 17 September, we encouraged everyone who cares about the future of the QEH to complete Healthwatch Norfolk’s survey about the future of healthcare services across the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital and James Paget University Hospital.
Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to do so. It is important that as many local voices as possible are heard as the Clinical Strategy for our three hospitals is developed.
As we explained in our 17 September update, however, we had concerns about aspects of the survey’s design and framing. The questions had been supplied to Healthwatch by the NHS Trust, and we urged people to read both the questions and the available answers very carefully. In particular, we highlighted the way some priorities were presented and ordered, the restriction on how many could be selected, and the questions around travelling further if specialist services were provided at fewer hospital sites.
If you felt the survey did not give you enough opportunity to explain your views fully, there is another way to make your voice heard. You can write to Healthwatch Norfolk at enquiries@healthwatchnorfolk.co.uk, setting out in your own words what services you believe should be provided at the QEH and why – including any concerns about travelling distances, accessibility, emergency care or the consequences for patients and families if services were provided elsewhere.
The survey remains open until 6 November 2026, so if you have not yet completed it, there is still time to have your say – and, whether or not you have already completed it, you may also wish to send Healthwatch a fuller account of your views by email.
The Future of QEH Services: What Happens Next?
Work on the future shape of hospital services across Norfolk and Waveney remains at an early stage and, importantly, no decisions have been made about the future configuration of services at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The hospital group is currently gathering evidence, considering a range of ideas and assessing their implications as it develops a new long-term Clinical Strategy. The outcome of the Clinical Advisory Group review will be reported to Norfolk County Council’s Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC) on 19 November 2026, providing an important opportunity for elected councillors to scrutinise the process and its implications for West Norfolk. The findings will also be considered by the Integrated Care Board (ICB) as part of the wider NHS process, while further public engagement will ensure that the experiences and concerns of patients, residents and communities can continue to be heard. If significant changes to services are eventually proposed, they would need robust clinical evidence and would have to go through the appropriate NHS governance processes, scrutiny, staff and public engagement and formal consultation before any final decisions could be taken. There is therefore still a substantial process to go through, with further opportunities for the people of West Norfolk to have their say, before any final decisions about the future configuration of services at the QE could be made.
Thank you
Cllr Rob Colwell