GET CENTENE OUT OF OUR SURGERIES!

 

 

We are co-ordinating a campaign in our area against the takeover of GP practices by the massive US health corporation Centene. They have now taken over 58 GP practices affecting over 500 patients.

IF YOUR SURGERY IS NOW OWNED BY CENTENE…

WE ADVISE YOU TO CHANGE TO AN NHS ONE 

 

 

1% PAY RISE ‘SLAP IN THE FACE’ FOR NHS WORKERS After clapping the NHS workers who have risked their lives in this pandemic, this government’s offer of a 1% payrise is a national disgrace 1% won’t pay the rent! We support all actions taken by NHS workers for a decent pay rise!

 

RECENT CAMPAIGNS – We helped to stop the Whittington Hospital from using Grenfell contractors Rydon for their Estate Strategy:

What we do

In 2010 we stopped the closure of the Accident and Emergency, Intensive Care, Maternity and Paediatric departments at the Whittington Hospitals. These are all areas for development under the current Estate Strategy.

In 2013 we stopped the disgraceful sell-off, passed unanimously by the hospital board, of half our hospital, including maternity services.

And most recently we stopped the board, who had again voted unanimously to employ Ryhurst, subsidiary of the Grenfell Tower contractors, from signing the contract.

This was after a nearly year-long campaign and now will result in the hospital having to pay a fine, from our health monies, to this company.

They are now bringing the management of the Estate Strategy back in-house. We think this whole debacle, the choice of provider and refusal to listen to community opinion was a dreadful waste of hospital time and resources and showed incompetence about an issue that the chair should have known about before dragging the board through the Rydon mud.

We defend our hospital for its patients and oppose cuts and privatisation of our National Health Service. We are most definitely proud of our campaigning role to protect our hospital.

 

Keep Rydon out of Whittington Hospital

 

 

 

We are proud of our campaigning role to defend the hospital

 

See our letter in the Islington Tribune (30th August 2018)

 

 

Sell-off defeated but fight to defend the NHS goes on…

 

 

Our victory in 2013-2014 against the threat of ward closures and job cuts showed what could be achieved when local people – residents, patients, hospital staff, trade unions, politicians and a number of concerned local celebs – came out to defend our hospital.

We were told that plans for huge cutbacks in services would be scrapped and a new strategy put in place to guarantee our hospital’s future. But big savings are likely to be needed as the new government imposes further austerity on our public services – including the NHS.

Despite what it says about protecting health service funding, hospitals are likely to face savage cuts – while privatisation is an increasing threat as large parts of the NHS, including hospital and community services such as district nursing and mental health, are packaged up and sold off to private companies who will cut care provision and jobs in a bid to boost profits.

We are opposed to the Sustainability and Transformation Plans that this Governmentment has imposed on our NHS, incurring MASSIVE cuts to the service, under the guise of improvement. We welcome a state of the art Health Service, but with no loss of jobs and services, no privatisation. We are proud that the Whttington currently has NO private beds, We want this to continue.

Join our campaign to keep our local hospital and oppose these threats before it is too late.

For more details about the progress of the campaign, and a list of future actions, visit the “Meetings and events” section of the website.

To join us, email defendwhittington@gmail.com or find us on facebook

Full media coverage here

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Junior doctors on the picket line outside the Whittington on the first day of the strikes. They were joined by members of DWHC and Keep Our NHS Public. Popular support for the strike remains strong

 

Why DWHC is backing junior doctors 48-hour stoppages

The second of three 48-hour strikes by junior doctors will go ahead on 6 April as they continue to fight the government’s plan to cut their pay and conditions, and impose an “unsafe” contract without agreement of  the “doctors’ trade union” the British Medical Association.

The government claims it is aiming for a seven-day a week health service. But as the junior doctors themselves say, the government has misrepresented data and continues to lie about the seven-day NHS. A seven-day 24-hour emergency NHS already exists. But staffing levels are at the brink. What we really need is more funding, more doctors, more nurses, more porters, lab staff and other healthcare professionals.

The doctors are right when they say the safeguards built into this new contract are inadequate. There is a financial incentive for hospitals to overwork already tired doctors, as it is cheaper to do this and pay fines than hire extra staff to cover the large staffing gaps which are currently there in our hospitals. This is leading to burn out and doctors leaving the NHS.

The government are not being truthful when they are saying doctors are getting a pay rise of 13.5 per cent. They are not. Most junior hospital doctors who do any out of hours on-calls will lose out between 10-20 per cent. Working more unsocial hours and getting a pay cut is demoralising – is that what the government wants?

Already we see that staffing levels are getting dangerously low. The gaps in the rota for doctors and nurses are growing.  Doctors and nurses are being asked to do more and more every day because the government are not employing more staff. Frequently on a night shift a doctor is being asked to do the work of three doctors and also being asked to act as a more senior doctor. This is dangerous and puts our loved ones at risk.

Striking junior doctors are defending a high quality NHS – an NHS run by well-supported staff who are able to give of their best when caring for you. The government will attack the jobs of other NHS staff next: underfunding core NHS services and privatising lucrative areas.

The NHS is facing a crisis – but it is a crisis of the government’s own making, brought about by its stubborn refusal to adequately fund the NHS. The junior doctors are in the front line of the fight to properly fund the health service. That’s why we support them and why the public back them as well.

 

Lest we forget…

These, the founding principles of the NHS, are a reminder of what we are fighting for… and what is under threat as the government renews its attacks on our health services.

 

 

 

DWHC joins NHS protest in Manchester

Thousands of NHS campaigners – including a contingent from DWHC – converged on Manchester on Sunday 4 October for the protest at the Tory party conference.

Up to 100,000 people joined the march, called by the TUC to demonstrate against the government’s austerity policies and the attacks on union rights and the NHS.

The march had the backing of the People’s Assembly. Rights groups said cuts in benefits have targeted the most vulnerable – including children, the elderly, the disabled, the sick and the mentally ill, as well as the unemployed and low paid – while the government has given millionaires a handout through tax cuts that will vastly increase their wealth.

NHS unions were angry that staff are being laid off or having to work longer hours for less pay. With rising costs, the government’s five-year freeze in NHS funding means further severe reductions will have to be made, which could see hospitals, A&Es and GPs surgeries plunged into a deepening crisis this winter.

Two-thirds of hospitals are already facing deficits averaging £22 million. The overall NHS deficit is expected to reach £2 billion this year.

Thousands of junior doctors also joined the protest to signal their anger at the new contracts health secretary Jeremy Hunt is trying to force through. The doctors leaders say pay cuts and longer hours will result, and that patients could be put at risk if hours are lengthened further.

Len McCluskey, Unite general secretary, in a speech to the rally at the end of the march showed the government was facing opposition. He said the protest was “sending a very clear message” to the government that a fightback was under way.

 

The DWHC contingent lining up with the banner at the start of march past the Tory party conference in Manchester on October 4

 

No to privatisation of out of hours service

The procurement of a new £50 million out of hours contract covering all five North Central London clinical commissioning groups – Camden, Islington, Haringey, Barnet and Enfield – has been put on hold until April while the CCGs hold “public engagement” meetings to try to win over opposition.

How well the OOH service is run – if it is also combined with the 111 emergency phoneline, which is another part of the plan – will have a big impact on the number of people turning up at A&E. We want the service to be run by local doctors, not by a big private medical company. That’s why we are saying the “public engagement” exercise is not enough and why we are calling for proper public consultation so that the view of most people that the new service should not be privatised is taken into account.

 

People’s Inquiry warns of danger to London hospitals

The People’s Inquiry into London’s NHS completed its information-gathering stage at Lewisham Hospital, having held seven public hearings in different parts of London, and received evidence from around 100 people, including DWHC.

The six-person panel, which included Roy Lilley and the Guardian’s Polly Toynbee, has now published its report, which makes grim reading for defenders of London hospitals under threat of closures.

But the authors of the report say there are ways out of this mess. Their aim in highlighting the current crisis is to open up debate and discussion on NHS policy in the run-up to the next general election, and pin the blame firmly on the government.

The outcome of that election could decide whether our health service survives. London NHS services ‘unravelling’ – BBC News

Read the panel’s recommendations here