Following Queen’s busiest month ever, with thousands attending their A&E in December, they’ve launched a campaign to secure the £35million needed to transform the department.

Local MP Julia Lopez has backed the campaign to improve an A&E built for 325 patients over two decades ago, which now sees more than double that on a daily basis – 752 patients came to Queen’s Hospital needing emergency care on just one day in December. It also sees around 100 ambulance arrivals every day.

To support the campaign, Mrs Lopez has again written to the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, calling on him to provide the funding needed for the redevelopment. Mrs Lopez wrote to the Health Secretary back in July about the funding but was told that the Department was, at the time, reviewing its spending commitments. You can find the previous letter here.

Julia Lopez, MP for Hornchurch and Upminster, said: 

“To get better emergency care for residents, I’ve been pushing ministers to fund the redevelopment of Queen’s A&E. The redevelopment has been made possible now that some services have moved from Queen’s Hospital into the brand new £17m St. George’s Health and Wellbeing Hub in Hornchurch which we managed to deliver last year.

“I’ve been supporting this campaign for a few months now and look forward to continuing to work with Queen’s on this important campaign which will improve healthcare here in Havering.”

Queen’s have expressed their gratitude for Julia’s support and are calling on the very people who need a better A&E, those who rely on the care their staff provide - patients and their relatives - to support the campaign. 

Queen’s have asked patients to contact their MP to show their support for the campaign, with posters in the department including QR codes linking straight to contact information for the relevant local MPs.

Matthew Trainer, our Chief Executive, said:

“This has already been a particularly bad winter, with early January seeing up to 50 patients cared for on our corridors at any one time. It’s not what we would want for ourselves or our loved ones and it’s not good enough. 

“The physical layout of the Queen’s A&E is inadequate and the additional staff we need to care for patients on beds in corridors costs £100,000 a month. This is bad for patients and their families, and for our staff.

“I’m grateful for the support of our MPs as we campaign to secure the £35m funding needed to improve patient care, provide better working conditions for colleagues and end the indignity of corridor care.”