Calls to restore full A&E services at Wycombe Hospital increase as Stoke Mandeville under 'immense pressure'
Calls to restore full accident and emergency services at Wycombe General Hospital have intensified after Buckinghamshire Council backed a motion on emergency healthcare access.
During a debate on the motion, councillors highlighted how Stoke Mandeville Hospital, the closest alternative facility, was already under “immense pressure.”
The motion, “Addressing Emergency Healthcare Access Inequality in Wycombe through Council Health Responsibilities”, was originally proposed by Cllr Khalil Ahmed, seconded by Cllr Trevor Snaith, and later amended by Cllr Isobel Darby and Cllr Lesley Clarke.
Speaking at the full council meeting, Cllr Ahmed said High Wycombe, now home to more than 140,000 residents, had been without a fully functioning A&E since its closure around 2005.
“For a town of our size and regional importance this absence has had a profound effect on our residents for two decades now,” he said.
“Residents who need certain forms of urgent or emergency treatment must currently travel to Stoke Mandeville, Wexham Park or even Oxford.
“These journeys can easily exceed an hour and in life-threatening situations every minute matters.”
He warned that Stoke Mandeville, the main emergency centre for southern Buckinghamshire, was already under “immense pressure”, with population growth making reliance on a single A&E “unsustainable”.
Cllr Ahmed also highlighted a petition he launched calling for the A&E to be reinstated, which has attracted nearly 4,500 signatures.
He added: “This is not about party politics - this is a plea for residents for action on an issue that affects every family, every community, every part of Wycombe.”
Cabinet member for health and wellbeing Cllr Isobel Darby, who proposed amendments to the motion, said emergency health provision must be considered in the context of the whole county.
She said: “What is really important and I’m not belittling the people of High Wycombe, but emergency health provision in Buckinghamshire is a much bigger thing and High Wycombe is part of it.
“So just looking at Wycombe in isolation is probably too small an issue. We all collectively serve the people of Buckinghamshire and we need to make sure that emergency health care provision is right for all the people of Buckinghamshire.”
Cllr Julia Wassell, one of the original campaigners who fought to keep the A&E open in 2005, said many people in the town had never accepted its closure and the wider impact it had on hospital services.
Fellow Wycombe councillor Arman Alam said residents and councillors “shouldn’t give up” after 20 years of campaigning.
However, Cllr Lesley Clarke argued she rarely heard concerns about A&E on the doorstep.
Leader of Buckinghamshire Council Cllr Steven Broadbent, said: “We have to work with the NHS to make sure that emergency care provision for the people of Buckinghamshire is as it needs to be no matter the setting no matter the venue.”
Seconding the original motion, Cllr Snaith raised concerns about the pressures facing Wycombe’s Urgent Treatment Centre (UTC).
He said: “We have an urgent treatment centre but its only open from 8am to 8pm. Outside those hours people have to find their way to A and E or similar.
“Once residents get into this UTC there is often long waits, they can wait three hours. They are then told, go to A and E and guess what?
“They toddle off to A and E and have to wait another three hours. This is totally unacceptable for our people.”