The march and rally, press coverage and the next steps
Hi everyone,
Many thanks for everything you have all done to contribute towards Saturday’s march, which was a fantastic success. We estimate there were about five thousand people walking along Holloway Road to the Hospital, including many nurses and doctors who work there but are unable to show their support publicly. Many of those walking had never been on a march before, and we are delighted that Saturday has successfully launched the Coalition’s public campaign and made us a real force in this debate. NHS officials can be in no doubt that the entire population of Islington and surrounding boroughs will not accept cuts that would tear the heart out of the Whittington Hospital and reduce services to those who need them most.
We are really grateful to all of you for your help, it just shows what we can all achieve by working together!
We also had excellent press coverage, not only local papers but TV as well. If you missed any of the TV coverage, you will be pleased to know we were the lead story on both BBC and ITV regional news, and Shirley was interviewed live on the BBC at 12.00.
Here’s a link to her interview (we don’t know how long this will stay up): Protesters in rally ‘to save A&E’
This is the coverage from ITV’s London Tonight (sorry about the advertising at the start!): Hospital cuts
There’s more BBC coverage here on YouTube:
And some press coverage by the local newspapers:
Islington Gazette: Thousands of people march to save The Whittington Hospital A&E
Camden New Journal: Thousands march for the Whittington Hospital
Ham & High: March to save Whittington A&E draws 5,000 protesters
The Camden New Journal made this video about the day:
There is a long way to go still though, and we are now thinking about what else we need to do in the run up to the consultation, which is due in September. To that end we are organising a big campaigning meeting which will take place on Monday 22 March at 7.00pm at the Whittington Community Centre, Yerbury Road, N19. If you can come and join in with ideas for how to keep this issue alive in people’s minds and in the press over the next few months, and also ideas for challenging the thinking behind the proposed cuts, please come to this one-off meeting. If you can’t please email us with your ideas – we are a Coalition and value everyone’s contribution.
If you want to get more involved in general planning the next meeting will take place at the Whittington Community Centre next Monday 8 March at 7.00pm.
We look forward to seeing you at our meetings. Onwards and upwards!
Shirley Franklin and Zozi Goodman
Joint Chairs, Defend the Whittington Hospital Coalition
www.dwhc.org.uk
