DEFEND THE WHITTINGTON HOSPITAL COALITION

This week keeps on getting busier and I know there’ll be stuff I’ve missed but this is the latest campaign news.

Transport disruption on Saturday

There are disruptions to public transport on Saturday which, while a pain, serve to highlight one of the many reasons we need to keep an A&E at the Whittington.

This is from Zozi Goodman, DWHC Joint-chair:

Hi everyone, As the big day of the march is dawning thoughts are now turning to how to get to Highbury Corner, especially as the police are closing off half of Holloway Road for us to walk down. So here’s some info to help you plan your journey: Holloway Road is only closed going north ie from Highbury Corner to Archway.

Traffic will still be allowed on the other side of the road, but there are arrangements to close the road at some of the junctions with other roads. Archway Station is closed, as is the whole of the Victoria line, which is all planned engineering work. The Piccadilly line is however open as normal.

There are a lot of planned closures or part closures on the tube network generally, for more information here is the link to the TfL website: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/livetravelnews/realtime/by-date.aspx?offset=weekend

Buses are still running but some are being diverted. For a complete picture of each bus route, and for more information about which roads are closing when please click on this link: Traffic info for Coalition March on 27 Feb 2010 (.pdf)

Fingers crossed for the weather, see you on the march.

Zozi Joint Chair, Defend the Whittington Hospital Coalition

Press Coverage

There’s an excellent piece about Saturday’s march in the  Tottenham & Woodgreen Advertiser.

CONCERNED residents are urged to turn out in force on Saturday to protest against plans to strip The Whittington Hospital of its accident and emergency department.

Thousands are expected to converge on Highbury Corner at noon to join health campaigners, political leaders and hospital staff in a mass march up Holloway Road towards the hospital in Highgate Hill.

One carriageway of the busy road will be closed for the marchers who will then gather for a rally outside The Whittington with speeches by campaigners including Wendy Savage of the Keep Our NHS Public campaign group.

Proposals for a rejig of services of hospitals and health services across Enfield, Barnet, Haringey, Islington and Camden have sparked fear and uncertainty, particularly that The Whittington’s treasured A&E department may be downgraded.

Services could be lost under four out of seven options as part of an NHS cost-cutting shake-up and plans are also afoot for a cost-cutting merger between The Whittington and the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead. This is of particular concern to Haringey residents, who have no major hospital within their borders.

Shirley Franklin, joint chairwoman of the Defend The Whittington Hospital Coalition, urged everyone to take part in the demonstration. She said: “Nobody wants to lose the A&E and if you want to have your say, come on the march on Saturday. People are going to be there who have never been on a demonstration before – it has such a resonance for everybody.

“We’ve collected at least 10,000 signatures and they’re still coming in fast and furious. I’ve been gobsmacked with the level of support, which is just fantastic. I think people feel this is their chance to have their voices heard.”

You can read the rest of the article here: Walk the Walk for the Whittington

Political Support

It looks like we’re going to have  loads of political support on Saturday. There have been blog posts popping up throughout the day. Some are a tad too clearly electioneering, but that’s understandable with an election looming and all raise the profile of the campaign. Apologies to anyone I’ve missed: I’m getting these from the Twitter topic Whittington A&E so if you’re an MP/councillor/candidate and would like your blog to be mentioned in these updates make sure you tweet it too!

Karen Jennings (Labour): Whittington A&E protests shift up a gear.

Lynne Featherstone (Liberal Democrat): Whittington A&E: LibDems would give Power to the People.

David Lammy (Labour): Join us on a march to save the Whittington Hospital.

Jeremy Corbyn spoke about the Whittington in Parliament yesterday and has released this press release: PressWhittingtonFeb2010 (.pdf, originally received as .doc)