Military Doctors in Pontefract A&E?

There has been a lot of media coverage in this last week that implies that Army doctors might be called into staff Pontefract A&E overnight, but is this correct or is it just Chinese whispers?

Pontefract A&E closed overnight at the beginning of November temporarily because of the difficulty Mid Yorks Hospital Trust had in recruiting middle grade doctors to staff all their A&E departments. The Trust has made it clear that it is a temporary closure and that they intend to reopen the department at night as soon as they have enough middle grade doctors to provide safe care for all their patients.

Today the practice received an email detailing a review of the Trusts decision to close Pontefract A&E. An independent review was jointly commissioned by the Strategic Health Authority, Primary Care Trust and Mid Yorks Hospital Trust. The review concluded that the Trust had fully considered all reasonable options but suggested that it might be worth talking to the Army to find out if they could help.

Some exploratory conversations were undertaken but they did not lead anywhere and Army doctors will not be staffing Pontefract A&E. To read an update from Mid Yorks Trust click here.

The practice is a bit disappointed because we looked forwards to having Major Tom (click here for details) back with us!

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