6.30-8.00pm at Archway Methodist Hall;

1. Present: Jem (Chair) Shirley F, Steve C, Martin F, Rosie, Phil

Apologies:   Gary H, Tricia, Valerie L, Alice, Linda C

2. Minutes of last meeting: Agreed
3. Matters arising Steve reported that the film showing of The Great NHS Heist with Dr Bob Gill, a GP, focussed on the dire impacts of privatisation. He will be doing several showings of the film and is highly recommended.
4. 4. Update –

Meeting with Jonathan Gardner, Director of Strategy and Communication at Whittington Health with Shirley and Valerie. Most of the meeting was spent outlining the purpose of the meetings. We only had time for a very short discussion about the Estate Strategy. We were told that “architects” (we think he meant planners) were being procured for the process. We reiterated our opposition to the CCG proposals to relocate St Pancras Mental Heath where the current Staff quarters and Education Blocks are. Both facilities should be retained on site. We also think the St Pancras should be done up and retained for mental health and that Moorfields should not be sold off, and the services moved to St Pancras.

We are hoping that our future meetings will cover more about the Estate Strategy, about the Haringey Islington Partnership and the SEP as well as issues at the hospital, such as staffing, bullying, staff morale,  A and E, etc.

Ryhurst/ Rydon Campaign We agreed to hold a protest if there is a court case regarding the breaking off of the procurement with Rydon. If there was an out -of-court settlement we would protest outside the Hospital with our placards.

Forthcoming AGM on 26th September. Phil said that he would try to attend.

We again expressed concern about the secrecy of the Board and the Boards lack of transparency. Minutes from the private Board Meetings where more significant issues are discussed are not available to the public…

5. Finances

Martin F was going to the Islington National Education Union meeting to ask for £250.

We want to extend this financial support from other local trade unions

6. Discussion on future activities
7. i) We continue to meet with Management of the Hospital, if information is more forthcoming.
8. ii) We will monitor the Estate Strategy developments in terms of proposals for private provision, cuts in care and selloffs

iii) Monitor the interests of Board members

iv Investigate and monitor privatisation at the hospital – eg Sodexho, IT services, etc

Date of Next Planning Meeting  Tuesday 30th October

Shirley 28.09.2018

Chair:  Shirley Franklin   Minutes: Valerie Lipman

1. Introductions and apologies

Shirley welcomed everyone to the meeting.  Fifteen people attended. Apologies were received from Catherine West, Tony Marshall.

2. Minutes of the 18th May 2015 and matters arising

The minutes were approved.

There was no progress on our simplified leaflet about the value of the NHS and the impact of the 2012 Care Act, but a similar summary, produced by another group can be found on our website for 2 June 2015. SF reminded people to use the DWHC website – it has a lot of good information and a good place to exchange news.

We still need to find out which Whittington Hospital services are privatised.

3. Whittington Hospital Update

SF and VL met with Simon Pleydell CEO of the Whittington Health on 11 June to find out more about forthcoming changes. A summary of the main points was sent out to all on the DWHC mailing list on 18 June 2015. We were informed that savings of £16.9 million have to be found this year (2015/16) and £19 million cut next year. He has told us that he does not intend to reduce health provision for the Whittington Community. The cuts will be met in the main through “efficiencies” in admin (i.e. admin redundancies), wastage etc. Some buildings like the Old Royal Northern might go, but be replaced by more effective cutting edge provision.

GH reported that at the last meeting of the Scrutiny Board the CEO of the Whittington had commented that they could not provide services if they’re not properly paid for them.

4.The future of the DWHC

SF described what the DWHC does – including attending meetings of the Board and other related meetings, runs regular stalls, organises demos, does public speaking, and provides solidarity to other campaigns, such as UNITE, closures of other hospitals. This level of activity and any future campaign need more resources and time given to it than are currently on hand. It’s not possible to carry on at the current rate. There was a long discussion about the future of the DWHC. Key points included:

• clarification that the DWHC is non-party political and needs to ensure that it’s not seen to be backing the Labour Party, though the local MP, Jeremy Corbyn, has always been and continues to be a very strong supporter of the DWHC
• That we need to be kept informed of changes by the Whittington that might quality and volume of services provided for patients.
• It was fine for the DWHC to have a figurehead to do public speaking etc.
• That a body was necessary to keep fighting cuts at the Whittington and oversee what’s going on
• Questions posed about whether we should and could still run street stalls
• Would it be helpful to keep momentum going by organising a ‘health event’ to raise awareness etc or did people only become involved and attend meetings when there was a ‘crisis’?
• Agreed there should be more support from the union. DWHC has been very supportive. Clarification also made that it was not the DWHC’s role to take action against staff cuts – that was the Union’s role.
• Elections for the chair/secretary posts to draw in more people. Noted that the DWHC held elections at its AGM every December
• Some argued that it was not sustainable in its current form.

The meeting agreed that the DWHC should carry on and for the time being would keep a watching brief on developments at the Whittington, but would be ready to spring into action if it perceived substantive negative changes were being made to front-line services and especially to A&E. GH agreed to act as ‘alert person’ for DWHC, keeping it up to date with significant matters from Islington Scrutiny meetings which he regularly attends. He also agreed to attend the monthly meetings of the Whittington Board and report back.

The next meeting of the Whittington Health Board is 2^nd September in Room 7, Whittington Education Centre, The Whittington Hospital. Their AGM follows 5.00 pm that same day. Details can be found on Whittington Health website:

http://www.whittington.nhs.uk/default.asp?c=20208

5. AOB

Other campaigns – the meeting was reminded of two major current health/health related campaigns:

• NHS Reinstatement Bill – the main aim of this is to restore the Secretary of State for Health’s responsibility for, and duty to provide, crucial services including hospitals and community services throughout England. This duty was removed under the 2012 Health and Social Care Act
• TTIP – [Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership] – is a series of trade agreements between the EU and USA TTIP about reducing the regulatory barriers to trade for big business. One of its main aims is to open up Europe’s public health, education and water services to US companies. If it all goes through it could essentially mean the privatisation of the NHS.

The next meeting to be arranged as necessary. The AGM will be held as usual in December – date to be agreed.

Place:  Archway Methodist Church 19.00 – 20.40

Chair:  Shirley Franklin   Minutes: Valerie Lipman

1. Introductions and apologies

Shirley welcomed everyone to the meeting.  Fourteen people attended. Apologies were received from Gary Heather, Catherine West, Bruce Kent, Tony Marshall, Phil Richards.

2. Minutes of the 2nd March 2015 and matters arising

The minutes were approved.

Matters arising:

• Health hustings – approximately 50 people had attended the DWHC hustings. Though the numbers were disappointing it was a good meeting with a vibrant discussion. Representatives from five of the local major political parties across Islington and Haringey were on the platform; plus an empty chair that represented Lynn Featherstone’s absence. We’d run a lot of public stalls up till the meeting distributing our manifesto and getting signatures for our petition.
• The Whittington maternity charity concert was very poorly attended and Sodexo the private company with the catering contract at the Whittington Hospital provided inadequate refreshments.  We were also concerned over the lack of involvement of the Board at the concert.

3. Whittington Hospital Update & General Election

It was reported that Whittington Health is running a deficit. Members of the meeting have had conflicting information about the future of the Whittington’s acute and A&E services. Although a rumour about possible cuts to acute services had been scotched by the CEO concerns were still expressed about the future of the hospital as a fully functioning district hospital. It was also noted that the Whittington Health’s 2015-2020 Strategy nonetheless contained a stated commitment to the retention of its current A&E service. This was reassuring to see. We’ve also heard that staff are leaving in droves from the hospital. The meeting expressed major anxieties about the outcome of the election and the likelihood of increased privatisation of health services. Reports (including from the Chair of the Whittington Health) usually state that 5% of services have been privatised so far.

4.Where do we go from here

Concerns were expressed about the 24/7 emergency services and the future of the out of hours/111 service, the possibility that patients are being moved out of hospital too soon to receive community services which are in short supply and being cut; the loss of permanent staff and expertise. It was reported by one member that CCGs would experience difficulties in getting in private companies because the profits would be too small to make it worthwhile for most companies.

There was a discussion on how we could help to ‘control the story’ about what’s happening with the changes in the NHS, to increase people’s understanding of the implications of privatisation and to get them engaged in campaigning when there aren’t obvious cuts being made. SF reported that she’s writing a simplified leaflet, based on our manifesto, to explain some of the key changes in the Care Act and their impact on the NHS. Other suggestions included organising a media launch for the leaflet, aligning with national campaigns, the need to keep up to date on what’s happening locally to run a regular stall and to do stalls at local events, such as the Whittington Community Centre event on 13th June.

The meeting agreed that it would adopt a dual ongoing role in keeping an eye on developments within the Whittington and attempt to raise awareness amongst the community of the impact of changes in the NHS on local provision. It was agreed:

• to regularly attend the monthly meetings of the Whittington Board. The next meeting is 2 -5 3rd June.
• to find out which services offered by Whittington Health have been privatised so far
• to arrange a meeting with CEO of the Whittington Health to find out more about forthcoming changes.

5. AOB

Mental Health – an update was given about a ‘new’ service in Islington called ‘Recovery Colleges’, which are supposed to be about enabling people’s chances of getting work after attending a 10 week course at their local day centre. These ‘colleges’ are using mental health patients instead of employing staff to provide the courses. Concern was also expressed about personal budgets in mental health which are being seen as a form of cut.

Forthcoming events

21 May – London Metropolitan meeting at Highbury Fields. SF speaking

30th May – Rally to institute Cathy Udwin a union representative at the National Gallery

13th June – from 12pm – Whittington Community Centre annual fair. Stall needed

20th June – End Austerity Campaign rally at Bank of England. Meeting agreed to gather at Archway Station at 11.15.

July 4th – 10.30 – 3.30 London-wide anti austerity conference at Islington Town Hall

Date of next meeting 6 July 2015, 7 – 9 at Archway Methodist Church

VL 28 May 2015

Chair:  Shirley Franklin   Minutes: Valerie Lipman

1. Introductions and apologies

Shirley welcomed everyone to the meeting.  Seven people attended the meeting. Apologies were received from Tony Marshall

2. Minutes of the 1st December 2014

These were approved

3. Matters arising from 1st December 2014

• ‘This May Hurt a Bit’ – the theatre company has been having trouble getting a whole cast together for a performance of the play.   Meeting agreed to put a performance on after the General Election.
• Administration – email lists have now all been uploaded and gathered into one main list. Thanks to Jem for sorting. There is a total of 2,700 + names. However there are practical difficulties in sending out emails, as our current system can only send out 500 at a time.
• Jem also thanked for all her work for the DWHC over the last year.

4. Whittington Hospital Update

Whittington Health has adopted a new ‘marketing’ strategy aimed at ‘changing the hearts and minds’ of how the public views the hospital. Whittington Health wants people to stop thinking of it just being hospital beds, but about its wider community-based services. The DWHC argues that acute beds are always necessary and that there are insufficient community services to adequately support people who need help at home after a spell in hospital. Concerns also raised about the quality of help at home being provide unqualified volunteers, as opposed to trained staff. There are is also huge demands on the community provided services as respite care services have also been cut. We confirmed, that even in the face of other cuts in the social care sector, that because of limited resources DWHC’s main campaign is to keep a fully functioning hospital.

Agreed:

• to attend next Board meeting of the Whittington – 2 -5 4th March. SF to prepare letter to be given to Chair and CEO to read out at meeting. To distribute manifestos and hustings flyers too.
• to find out what cuts have been made to voluntary sector provided services in Islington and Haringey, in order to demonstrate that community services aren’t present. Suggested that IVAC and Haringey voluntary action are approached for info.

5. Hustings 23 March and petitions

SF invited candidates from the Green Party, Lib Dems, Labour, Conservatives and Trade Union Socialist Coalition (TUSC) to speak at the hustings. Acceptances so far have been received from Labour (Catherine West) and TUSC. SF will send further personal invite to the newly selected Conservative candidates for Islington North and South. SF will chair the meeting. Thanks extended to the GMB for helping host the meeting by enabling us to the Council Chamber. Copies of the manifesto will be put on each seat of the meeting. Collection to be arranged.

Two set of copies of the petitions to be made – one set for presentation to national government, and the other to be presented locally.

Jem to collate the completed petitions received so far. Everyone to continue collecting signatures and to distribute flyers for the hustings.

Next DWHC stall to promote the manifesto will be on 14^th March 11.30 – 1.00 outside Selbys on Holloway Road.

6. North London People’s Assembly 14^th March

CW and SF are running a session on health, in the afternoon at the People Assembly, Wood Green Cypriot Community Centre

7. Defend London NHS Meeting 10^th March

Pre-election meeting will be taking place at Hammersmith Town HallI

8. AOB

• Out of Hours/111 Service – plans are still going ahead by 5 north London boroughs to deliver a joint service. Enfield has the lead on the procurement process for the contract. Islington is in the middle of a consultation (“engagement”) process with Islington residents. The consultation is all about the type of service, not about what kind of organisation the residents would like the service to be provided by e.g. private, not-for-profit, NHS.
• London Medical Orchestra is doing a fundraiser for the Whittington Maternity Unit on 23 Mach at Brookfield Church, Dartmouth Park Hill. Agreed to try and distribute hustings flyers at the event.

9. Date of next meeting

Agreed to leave open, but to have one soon after the general election.

Chair:  Shirley Franklin   Minutes: Valerie Lipman

1. Introductions and apologies

Shirley welcomed everyone to the AGM.  Twelve people attended the meeting. Apologies were received from Jeremy Corbyn, Gary Heather, Phillip Richards

2. Minutes and matters arising of 2013 AGM

These were approved.  There were no matters arising.

3. Chair’s Report for 2013/14

Shirley gave a summary of the year’s activities. Following the success of last year’s vigorous campaign 2013 had been a quieter year but with some solid activities.  At the start of the year members of the DWHC occupied a Board meeting, at which they called for the resignations of the new Chair (Steven Hitchens) and Dr Koh, the CEO. During the year the Whittington Hospital saw its CEO and other members of the Board resign. An interim CEO was appointed, Simon Pleydell, who following an open recruitment process has just taken up the substantive post. The DWHC held two public meetings in the year.  Steven Hitchens attended the first in February, after much havering about whether he would/wouldn’t take part, and stated publically that the Whittington was not a District Hospital, which lent some confusion to the status of the hospital and what constitutes a district hospital. Later in the year, following collaboration at our planning meetings and on email, we developed the DWHC ‘Manifesto for Whittington Hospital’, which we launched at our second public meeting in October, The manifesto sets out a ten point agenda for local and national health care. Simon Pleydell attended the public meeting, giving a summary of the current position of the hospital and seeking the meeting’s views on ways forward.  In addition Shirley noted the ongoing support the DWHC has given to Whittington staff, by joining union pickets, days of action and rallys in support of the NHS.

Shirley thanked everyone for their input over the last year.

4. Treasurer’s Report

Alice Kilroy reported on the DWHC accounts. There was a balance of £1,678.89  in the account as at 28 November 2014 – about half of last year’s monies in the bank.  Income had been very low, with just a small donation and a couple of collections from the two public meetings.  while the greatest expenditure had been on printing leaflets for public meetings and the manifesto.  We are waiting on donations from UNISON who have offered further funds to the DWHC.

The meeting discussed ways of raising more funds, including street collections, stalls, writing to the local unions and trades council.

Alice was thanked for all her work.

5. Elections

There being no further nominations the following positions and post holders were agreed:

Chair: Shirley Franklyn

Treasurer:  Alice Kilroy

Secretary – database and mailings: Jem Lindon

Secretary – minutes – Valerie Lipman

Website: Tony Marshall

6. The Year Ahead

Four areas were discussed: establishing what’s happening about the Whittington A&E service; promoting the Manifesto; raising funds and administrative work related to our mailing lists.

• A&E  – there had been a report that the Isis Ward in A&E (which is ‘holding’ ward until people have been found a bed) may be closed as part of cost savings by the hospital.  Consultants and other hospital staff have expressed concern about the future of the A&E. It was agreed the planning group needed to find out more, and members will attend the next Whittington Board meeting on the 3rd December, and report back at next DWHC meeting. Shirley would also approach all media contacts, if it seen that the closure of Isis is an indication of further cuts to A&E.
• Manifesto – agreed that this needs to be promoted and circulated more.  Members to circulate as widely as possible, and return completed petitions to the Whittington Community Centre on Yerbury Road.  An aim is to use the petition as the basis of hustings leading up to the May 2015 national election.  The petition will also be put on line.
• Fundraising – The meeting agreed to hold a stall along the Holloway Road (near Selby’s) on 13th December 11.30 – 1.00, at which we will have our manifestos and petitions to sign, as well as collection jars.  As many people as possible to help out at the stall. Another date is also to be found to put on the play ‘This May Hurt a Bit’, which was postponed from October because of the actors other commitments.  Shirley to pursue.
• Administration – there have difficulties in transferring names and addresses from one list to our main database on the computer.  Jem and Ben agreed to sort.

7. AOB
8. a) There was a discussion about whether meetings should continue to be held monthly or not.  Given the forthcoming election and the possible cuts to A&E it was agreed that planning meetings would continue on a monthly basis
9. b) that we would hold hustings during the election period
10. c) Shirley, Valerie and all involved in keeping the campaign going, were warmly thanked for their work over the year.

8. Close of AGM 7.45pm.

The next ordinary meeting of the DWHC Planning group will be 5th January 2015 at Archway Methodist Centre

VL/ 9 Dec 201

Place: Archway Methodist Church 19.00 – 20.30

Chair: Shirley Franklin   Minutes: Valerie Lipman

1. Introductions and apologies

Shirley welcomed everyone to the meeting. Eleven people attended. Apologies were received from two people.

2. Minutes and matters arising

Previous minutes were approved. There were no matters arising that were not already on the agenda.

3. Update

Whittington

• Noted that the Tribune contained short article about recruitment for new CEO, with aim of having someone in place by December
• Some uncertainty expressed about the current status of the Whittington’s application to become a Foundation Trust.       VL agreed to check board meeting minutes on line.
• It was reported that the last Whittington Board meeting had discussed their forthcoming public consultation programme with their stakeholders – this included Islington Pensioners forum, who were still waiting to hear.

13^th October – National strike by health unions for better wages – UNISON, GMB, UNITE and RCM, supported by TUC all on strike 7 – 11 a.m. Picket taking place outside A&E at Whittington between 8 – 9am. DWHC and other groups to meet outside hospital. DWHC to have stall with flyers for public meeting, copies of manifesto and badges. Jeremy Corbyn speaking at picket.

4. DWHC Manifesto & public meeting 14^th October

Copies of the manifesto and petition and flyer for the public meeting were circulated.

Agreed speakers include: Simon Pleydell, George Durack (Islington Pensioners Forum) and Candy Unwin. Shirley to present/launch manifesto. Natalie Bennett was no longer able to make it. Still waiting to confirm from Jeremy Corbyn, David Lammy and David King (St Anns Hospital Campaign). Simon to be allocated 15 mins plus questions/discussion time. Shirley to launch the manifesto/

Agreed:

• To try to raise money from the meeting – Shirley to bring buckets, Alice to be asked to do short appeal mid-way through the meeting
• To give small donation to St Mellitus’s Church – for giving the hall for free
• That Gary would look after the table with leaflets etc
• To check room has sound system/roving mic
• To leaflet at Kentish Town, Tufnell Park stations and Nags Head.

6. TUC Day of Action 18^th October

Local group, Trades Council etc will be meeting at Angel tube at 11.00. DWHC still has problems finding people to hold their banner.

Tony will be taking photos.

AOB – there were no additional items

111/Out of hours service – concerns were raised that now that the CCGs in five boroughs in north London have agreed to tender collectively for an organisation to take on these services, that only a private company will have sufficient resources to make an acceptable bid. The CCGs must be urged to consider consortia of local GPs, even this results in some additional costs. Public meeting being held about this issue at Camden Town Hall, Monday evening 6-7 pm

The meeting closed at 8.30

The next meeting will be held on 1st December7-9pm at Archway Methodist Centre

The Health and Social Care Act of 2012 has increased privatisation of the NHS. Private shareholders will reap the benefits of our health needs. Further, the NHS is seriously underfunded, with massive unmet PFI debts forcing hospitals and A and E departments to close.

This Manifesto is addressed to the management of the Whittington Hospital and to the Secretary of State for Health. It has been drawn up in consultation with the Whittington Community – staff and patients – and will be launched at a public meeting on 18th October.

1. We want our hospital to remain a fully-functioning local district hospital, with fully functioning Accident and Emergency, Intensive Care, Paediatrics, Maternity Departments, and other in- and out-patient departments that meet the increasing local need. We do not want departments closed and to be sent to other hospitals, unless this is in their best medical and social interests.
2. We oppose Government under-funding: there must be no cuts in bed numbers and staffing, and no buildings sold off. We are very concerned that the hospital is running with inadequate numbers of beds for heavy demands and emergencies.
3. Privatisation generally results in less effective services. Staff are frequently demoted or made redundant in an effort to reduce costs and increase profits for shareholders. We want the hospital to stop paying private companies to run our health services and to employ only NHS staff, and not engage private companies.
4. The Hospital is committed to an integrated care programme, which involves caring for patients in the community. We are concerned that, since the Whittington catchment area is one of high single occupancy, high numbers of single parents, and increasingly high mental health needs, together with austerity cuts to community and social care, people’s home circumstances may not support a recovery. Patients’ social and mental health situations should be considered in addition to their medical readiness when considering discharge.
5. The downgrading of hospital staff is of great concern. More experienced, and therefore more expensive staff are being replaced with newly qualified staff who will have very few experienced staff to support them. We support staff in their demands for decent pay because we want to be treated by well-qualified staff, with a high morale.

Nationally

1. The 2012 Health and Social Care Act must go. It is destroying our NHS, by enabling privatisation and putting profits first, and wasting much needed resources in restructuring and redundancy costs of up to £10 billion.
2. We want our NHS to be funded properly from public taxation, we want it managed by the NHS, locally and nationally to meet all our health needs. And we want it free at the point of delivery. We should not be paying for any health services, as stated in the National Health Service Act 1946.
3. The 2012 Act removed the duty to provide health care from the Secretary of Health. The Government quango NHS England and local councils are now responsible for health provision, but the duty, under which patients can demand their right to NHS care, has gone. We want the Duty of Care restored.
4. PFI debts are draining NHS budgets and threatening the existence of hospitals. The Government should cancel all PFI arrangements and pay them off.

1. Mental health needs are increasing with austerity cuts and job losses. beds closed and day care and community provision and support have been slashed. We want a decently funded Mental Health service that properly meets needs and is equal in provision to other NHS services. No health without mental health.

DWHC Minutes 8 September 2014

Place: Archway Methodist Church 19.00 – 21.00

Chair: Shirley Franklin   Minutes: Valerie Lipman

1. Introductions and apologies

Shirley welcomed everyone to the meeting. Eight people attended. Apologies were received from six people, including Tony, Mark, Tom, Pam.

2. Minutes and matters arising

Previous minutes were approved. There were no matters arising that were not already on the agenda. Valerie was thanked for minute-taking.

3. Update

Whittington AGM

Shirley reported on the Whittington Hospital AGM. The Annual Report was only available at the meeting and therefore no time to peruse beforehand. She highlighted a number of points: there was a satisfactory review by the CQC, though the Trust didn’t meet the important standard relating to the care and welfare of people who use services (see p17); a new specialist staff member had been taken onto provide monthly visits to 10 Islington care homes, as part of the Integrated Care team for older people (p14); and staff morale was shockingly low (p40) – scoring only 20% for job satisfaction. This was not reported at the AGM, but raised by Shirley at the AGM. A member of our DWCH meeting commented that at the Whittington Board meeting following the AGM it was reported that less than 10% of staff had responded to a staff satisfaction survey.

Jarrow march

Shirley reported on attendance at Islington Green event for the marchers. Poor turnout from DWHC, but had banner, which Labour party members helped to carry all the way to Trafalgar Square for the final demo!

4. DWHC proposed Manifesto

A manifesto had been drafted, as agreed at the last meeting, and circulated. Several comments had been received and included. The revised draft was broadly accepted by the meeting, with a few changes. Great discussion held about a number of points. Key changes included inclusion of a point about PFI, and greater emphasis on the point concerning mental health – in order to increase its status with other health services. Any final changes to Valerie by end of the week. Shirley and Valerie will re-draft, and circulate with these minutes. Agreed that the petition and explanatory notes will be on separate sheets of paper. These will be made available on line. Efforts will be made to make access as easy as possible.

5. ‘This may hurt a bit’

The company is no longer able to do a performance on the 28th September because of varying other commitments. They are still willing to do a show, but later in the year. Meeting agreed to look for other local named actors, and to find a larger venue – Jackson’s Lane was suggested. Still need to clarify what contribution UNISON will make. Shirley and Valerie to meet with producer of the show to look at future possibilities.

6. Public meeting

Agreed date change from 9th to 14 October. Gary agreed to find venue, with full disabled access – probably return to St Mary’s on Dartmouth Hill, where last public meeting held. Long discussion about the mix of issues and speakers to have at the meeting. Topics/speakers to include: Jacky Davis on NHS changes; Simon Pleydell; Jeremy Corbyn; mental health (speaker to be found); current health campaigns (Candy??). Shirley to present/launch manifesto.

Agreed to discuss at next meeting how to further promote the manifesto and then when to present the petition and to whom.

7. AOB – there were no additional items

The meeting closed at 9.00

The next meeting will be held 6 October, 7-9pm at Archway Methodist Centre

———————————–

Note dates of next meetings

October 6th (Monday): DWHC Planning meeting (main item: how to         promote the manifesto)

October 14th (Tuesday): DWHC Public meeting

October 18th (Saturday): National Day of Action

Place: Archway Methodist Church 19.00 – 20.40

Chair: Shirley Franklin Minutes: Valerie Lipman

1. Introductions and apologies
Shirley welcomed everyone to the meeting. Ten people attended. Apologies were received from Gary Heather, Mick, Emma Davis, Morag, Andrew and Kate

2. Minutes and matters arising
Previous minutes were approved and signed as a correct record. There were no matters arising that were not already on the agenda.

3. Update on Whittington Health

i) Communication with Simon Pleydell
Shirley reported on Simon Pleydell’s (interim CEO of Whittington Hospital) reply to her letter sent after the June DWHC meeting. The CEO stated that the newspaper report about cuts to cancer and cardiac services were erroneous, he reiterated that he wanted to be open as possible, but a bald statement of bed numbers wasn’t very useful information because of changing circumstances; and that he’d be happy to accept an invitation to a DWHC public meeting or consultation.
ii) UNISON day of action
DWHC attended UNISON’s rally outside the hospital on June 5th, with banner.
iii) Whittington Hospital Board meeting 4th June.
‘Fight Against Racism’, had presented a petition to the Board meeting, signed by 5000 people against cuts the hospital. The Board refused to hold a discussion with those who’d presented the petition and walked out of their own meeting.
iv) Anti-austerity march 21st June
A few members of the DWHC attended. More volunteers are needed to help with carrying the banner
v) Jem
Shirley informed the meeting that sadly Jem has resigned from the DWHC. Jem has been one of the stalwarts of the DWHC since its first and very successful campaign to stop cuts to A&E. She’ll be much missed for the huge amount of work she put into the campaign, for taking the message out onto the streets, being the banner carrier on many marches and demos and for keeping the database going.

4. DWHC proposed Manifesto
Following last month’s meeting, several emails had been received with ideas for the Manifesto. There was a long discussion at the meeting, at which we agreed several manifesto demands, the structure of the manifesto and how we would promote it.

a) Draft Manifesto: the meeting agreed that this will be in petition format, and will open with a statement about the state of the Whittington and the NHS in general, followed by about 10 demands that will reflect local and national concerns. An accompanying leaflet will be produced expanding on each of the demands. The meeting agreed that the following points should be included:
• Publically funded hospital care and services should be publicly managed and publicly run
• Repeal the Health and Social Care Act 2012
• Bring management and provision of health services back in-house
• Restore the national duty of care
• People should only be released from hospital care when they are better and are feeling better, and only into circumstances with sufficient community support services
• Retain the Whittington as a local hospital with a fully functioning A&E and sufficient bed capacity for a growing population
• Support hospital workers campaigns for decent wages [Point made: good wages help everyone – if morale is higher, people work better and patients get better treatment]
• No downgrading staff – keep expertise in the hospital
• Include a point about on the capacity of day care provision in mental health [Point made: Islington has the highest rate of psychosis in the country; and one of the highest suicide rates among young men]

Tony read out the main features from the recently produced KONP (Keep our NHS public) Position Statement. Noted the many points of overlap between the DWHC.

b) Process: Valerie, Shirley and Tony will pull together draft manifesto following the meeting. This will be circulated to all those present to comment/add. A revised draft will then be sent to John Yudkin, Jacky Davis and Ron Singer for further comment. A final version will be produced from this, and debated at a consultation event/public meeting 9th October.

c) Promoting the Manifesto – agreed to launch it on 28 September at the showing of ‘This may hurt a bit’ (see Agenda item 5 for more detail). We will work with the local newspapers to get coverage, circulate it to all local NGOs and others working on health (e.g. Healthwatch, Manor Gardens) requesting that they refer to/or include it on their on-line and print newsletters etc. Also agreed to see how we could circulate it on the streets – either through leafletting, having stalls, distributing to other’s who run regular stalls.

5. ‘This may hurt a bit’
Shirley has an agreement from Max Stafford-Clark that he will put on a performance of his play ‘This may hurt a bit’ on Sunday 28th September. The company has also agreed to a Q&A afterward. Performance time yet to be confirmed. Likely venue is Lauderdale House in Waterlow Park, Highgate. Lauderdale is fully accessible, and has a bus stop right outside. There will be costs, which will be meet through existing funds, ticket sales and a collection on the night.

6. AOB – there were no additional items

The meeting closed at 8.40

The next meeting will be held 8 September, 7-9pm at Archway Methodist Centre

———————————–

Note dates of next meetings

September 8th (Monday): DWHC Planning meeting (main item: how to promote the manifesto)
September 28th (Sunday): ‘This May Hurt a Bit’
October 9th (Thursday): DWHC Public meeting
October 18th (Saturday): National Day of Action

Place: Archway Methodist Church 19.00 – 20.50

Chair: Shirley Franklin   Minutes: Valerie Lipman

1. Introductions and apologies

Shirley welcomed everyone to the meeting. Fourteen people attended. Apologies received from Jem.

2. Minutes and matters arising

Previous minutes were approved and signed as a correct record. There were no matters arising that were not already on the agenda.

3. Update on Whittington Health

i) Report back on meeting with interim CEO of the Whittington Hospital.

Tony and Valerie. reported back on the meeting (held 8 May) with Simon Pleydell, interim CEO and Caroline Thomsett Director of Communications Shirley had been unable to attend. Major point was about building trust between the hospital and the community and the best way to do this, following the fiasco of the Board’s 2013 strategy for cuts and its total lack of consultation with the community. The CEO stated he wished to be as open as possible, said there were no plans to change the revised strategy that had been agreed summer 2013, there was no risk of merger with another London hospital (especially because of the length of time it takes to work).

One of the people present at this Planning meeting said she’d read in the local paper of possible cuts to the Whittington’s cancer and cardiac services, with their removal to other hospitals with those specialisms. Others talked of growing privatisation at the hospital and the union’s fight to protect TUPE staff.

The meeting agreed that it would develop a manifesto with the community under a banner of ‘no cuts, no privatisation’. The meeting agreed that it would not take part in discussions about how to consult with the community until it had some cast iron information from the Board about staffing levels. This was to demonstrate that the Board was willing to share real information with the DWHC in the spirit of openness and building trust with the DWHC. Members at the meeting expressed the view that they didn’t want to be party to just helping the Board ‘s application for Foundation status, by being seen to have been consulted.

Agreed actions

• DWHC will run consultation with the community to find out what it wants from the Whittington Hospital to incorporate into a manifesto, culminating in public meeting in September
• Shirley to kick-start consultation by sending email to all on DWHC mailing list
• Inform Tom Foot about the consultation and manifesto, to encourage input
• Arrange article for the Ham & High
• Shirley to write to Simon Pleydell informing him of Planning group decisions
• DWHC members to write to Tribune to get it to improve its circulation

ii) Agreed to organised a performance of Max Stafford-Clark’s play ‘This may hurt a bit’ about the Whittington Hospital, which the Chair of the Whittington had prevented from being performed in the hospital, on grounds of it being political. Kate agreed to contact Max Stafford to find possible dates and cost.

iii) Integrated care – Valerie has just joined the Integrated Care Planning Board as the community representative. This is an advisory not a decision-making body. Views and comments about integrated care can be fed to Valerie to feed into the Board. Next meeting is 18 July.

4. Future Activities/other campaigns

• DWHC agreed to join UNISON’s rally outside the hospital on June 5 in support of Unison’s Day of Action against wage cuts. Take banner along.
• Whittington Hospital Board meeting on 4th June 2-5.

• A list of activities was attached to the agenda
• Anti-austerity march 21st June. Organised by the People’s Assembly. DWHC will organise a group with banner to join the march
• Demonstration on 5th June against closure of St Anns Hospital

5. Occupy Resolution

Held over till next meeting, when a representative from Occupy can put the motion to the meeting.

6. AOB

The meeting closed at 8.50

The next meeting will be held 7 July, 7 -9pm at Archway Methodist Centre