Dr Rajan visits Ealing Hospital

From: Ealing UKIP



The UK Independence Party candidate Dr K T Rajan visited Ealing Hospital today to talk to the staff and patients about their local health services.

Dr Rajan was shown around by the Deputy Director of Nursing, Mary Hynan, who took the group to see the new MRI suite, the Cardiology unit and the stroke and elderly care ward.

He was introduced to Crystal Blackmore, the Chief Superintendent of Radiology who showed Dr Rajan the new unit and explained the benefits to the local community. The development was finished in April 2006 and contains MRI and ultrasound facilities which previously were not available in the hospital. The unit now treats 12 people a day whereas before patients had to go to West Mids.

Dr Rajan was surprised that the cardiology unit was only opened in July 2006, since it is well established that the Indian population are prone to diabletes, hypertension and coronary artery disease. Dr Rajan said, “I am pleased that the Department of Health finally managed to inject funds into Ealing Hospital to allow these facilities to be built, but much more needs to happen.

“The department does not yet undertake angioplasty or fit pacemakers, which I consider vital in an area as highly populated as Ealing Southall, particularly with such a high percentage of Indians who are prone to heart problems.

“If I am elected MP for the area, I would make it my first priority to guarantee more funds to allow for these treatments to take place at the hospital.”

Dr Rajan was impressed with the stroke ward, which he said was “functioning very well.” The unit has a 30 bed ward with six acute stroke beds and a therapy gym and assessment kitchen on the ward .

“The level of support for patients suffering from strokes is excellent.” said Dr Rajan “You can really see the staff work together as a team and are providing a high level of care for the patients.”

Dr Rajan was very interested to know about the measures taken to ensure that diseases such as MRSA and C. Dif were not problems in the hospital.

“The vigilance of hand washing around the hospital is very impressive” said Dr Rajan. “There is a thorough screening process which takes place in Accident and Emergency and the pre admission checks ensure that any patient with contagious diseases such as MRSA are treated by their GP before they enter the hospital, and this ensures that the risk to other patients is minimised. “The team at the hosptial are very pro active” Dr Rajan added, “and this has been demonstrated by the low levels of infection in Ealing hospital.”

Dr Rajan did say that he felt the hospital could do with regeneration work. “I was shocked that the Liberal Democrat candidate recommended bulldozing the hospital” said Dr Rajan. “Clearly he has never worked in the National Health Service or he would not have come out with such a ridiculous statement.

“I think that the hospital does need more work to ensure it is a more welcoming place and that it is more up to date. I was only shown the newer bits of the hospital and it was very clean, the patients were well looked after and the staff moral was good. However, issues such as no planned prcedures for treating arrhythmias surprised me, as did the lack of bypass surgery.

“It would be prudent for the government to update the hospital instead of wasting money on the war in Iraq and on our contributions to the European Union. British people deserve to come first and the Department of Health should stop wasting money on initiatives such as the wasteful NHS computer system and think about making sure the people of Ealing Southall have a state of the art hospital.

“At the hospital I work with in Cardiff the Cardiology Unit is worlds apart from Ealing and has the lowest incidents of cardiac mortality. However, I can't see this government changing their ways and spending public money wisely. If the people of Ealing Southall really want a change they need to say so on Thursday.”