A PROTEST is being held at 8.30am tomorrow (Thursday) calling for the suspension of the consultation into the future of Worcestershire’s hospitals following the death of eight-year-old Callum Cartlidge.
Callum, who lived just three minutes away from the Alexandra Hospital, was taken by the ambulance crew to the Worcestershire Royal and died at the hospital.
The paramedics were following a protocol in place since September to not take seriously ill children to the Alex.
Tomorrow’s protest will take place at the Bromsgrove District Council House, Parkside, Market Street, before the latest meeting of the NHS Redditch and Bromsgrove Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) which takes place at 9am.
The CCG has set aside some time at 9.30am in the meeting to listen to the group and to take questions from members of the public.
Campaigners believe the tragic death of Callum has changed the situation as assurances that children in an emergency could be stabilised and resuscitated at the Alex before being transferred elsewhere appear to have been broken.
They are also concerned that safety recommendations from an independent review into the proposed model of care being implemented have been ignored including the amount of A&E consultant cover.
Neal Stote, from the group, said: “The model of care they are implementing is clearly no longer fit for purpose.
“We believe it would be extremely reckless to proceed with signing off these changes until the full results of the inquiry into Callum’s death are known.”
The group is also urging residents to send letters to the CCG calling for the suspension. Templates are available to download from the OurNHS Worcestershire and the Save The Alex Facebook page.
