DEFEND THE WHITTINGTON HOSPITAL COALITION

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DWHC Minutes 4 November 2013

Place: Archway Methodist Church 19.00 – 20.50

Chair: Shirley Franklin Minutes: Valerie Lipman

1. Introductions and apologies

Shirley welcomed everyone to the meeting. No apologies had been received.

2. Minutes and matters arising

Previous minutes were approved and signed as a correct record.

Matters arising:

i) It was noted that people’s initials were used, rather than full names to maintain privacy of individuals

ii) Chase Farm demonstration attracted 200 people. LB Enfield were applying for judicial review on 5 November on grounds that the site had been prevented from delivering the full range of services that it had been set up for.

iii) North London People’s Assembly had included a session on health, at which Shirley spoke, with Bronwen Handyside from Unite and KOPP

3. Report back on People’s Enquiry

Shirley reported back. The panel was chaired by Roy Lilley and included John Lister, Polly Toynbee and Louise Irvine. Submissions were made, among others, by UNITE, Jeremy Corbyn, David Lammy, Defend Haringey Health Services and SF. SF provided information on two topics: on the DWHC, and on mental health services. She gave the history of the campaign, the frustrations of obtaining accurate information from Whittington Health, for example on hospital bed numbers and staffing levels; and raised points about the costs of becoming a Foundation Trust. Submissions by others included questions to the Panel about the problems private contractors and the loss of government accountability and responsibility at the highest levels when things go wrong with health services and health care.

4. Update on Whittington Health

SF is still seeking definitive statement from the Communications department about the number of beds in the hospital. A question was raised about the levels of ITU beds, and anxieties express about the future of the A&E services in the light of the recently announced cuts in North London services.

PR reported on his attendance at the Islington Patient Group.

It was suggested that the DWHC should consider the role it could play in Mental Health, in addition to other health services. CM commented on the role that Camden Mental User Service played in looking at Camden Councils contract for delivery of mental health services.

5. Future Activities

i) A list of activities was attached to the agenda.

• JL & SF might be attending the London Coordinating meeting on 12 November at UNITE.

• VL and PR would be attending Islington CCG meeting on 6 November. Issues to look at would include contracting arrangements between CCG and the Whittington and Winter Pressure beds.

ii) DWHC AGM – to be held on 2nd December. Agreed to invite a speaker to talk about the impact of the health service changes on communities and patients. SF to invite Gill George.

The Constitution would be circulated with papers for the meeting, along with the notes of the last AGM (held in 2010). Requests for any changes to the constitution should be made ahead of the AGM.

6. AOB

Jem suggested DWHC write a letter to the local papers thanking everyone – shopkeepers, local businesses etc – for their support. Steve agreed to do this.

The meeting closed at 8.45

The next meeting will be held following the AGM on December 2nd at Archway Methodist Centre.

VL 15 November 2013

This is the DWHC constitution under which the coalition has operated since its inception. It was amended at the AGM on 6 December 2010 with a single alteration replacing the election of joint secretaries and chairs with a single secretary and chair:

Name: Defend The Whittington Hospital Coalition

* Membership: Open to all individuals living or working in the affected boroughs, and all concerned organisations.

* Aims: To prevent the run down, closure or privatisation of A&E or any other key services at the Whittington, or at any other North London hospitals.

* Methods: The coalition will be inclusive, independent and non-sectarian – promoting communication, co-ordination and solidarity among all those concerned

* Tactics: The coalition will encourage and support a wide range of tactics and initiatives towards achieving the long term aim.

* Organisation: A chair, secretary (responsible for minutes and membership) and treasurer to be elected; other posts to be co-opted and sub-groups set up as needed – all accountable to the general meetings.

* Meetings: general meetings to be held regularly; will be chaired and minuted (to be circulated); atmosphere of respect; friendly but efficient; focused on practical activities towards achieving the aim; open to all; decisions by consensus where possible (voting if necessary), with particular acknowledgement to be given to the views of staff and patients’ organisations.

* Mandate: Only those mandated by a general meeting to do so can speak on behalf of the coalition, as mandated.

* Contacts: Secretaries to maintain membership and contacts lists for use of the coalition only.

* Communication: An updates/announcements e-list to be set up which anyone can subscribe to. All supporting organisations urged to cascade the coalition updates to their own members. Efforts will be made to provide updates to those with no email.

* Co-ordination: An internal co-ordination e-list to be set up to which those actively involved can be added.

* Affiliations: All organisations agreeing with the aims are urged to affiliate (by informing an elected officer).

* Finances: All money raised will be used for the achievement of the aims. Records will be maintained and made available to a general meeting on request. Affiliated organisations will be asked to donate £10 for up to 50 members, £50 for 50-500 members, and £100 for over 500 members. Individuals free, but donations welcome. Fundraising efforts encouraged.

Planning meeting

Monday 4^th November at Archway Methodist Hall. 700 pm

Agenda

1. Introductions and apologies
2. Minutes from meeting of 7^th October and matters arising
3. Report from Peoples Inquiry on 1^st November
4. Future activities – including Bonfire Against Austerity on 5^th November
5. Mental Health campaign
6. Other Campaigns
7. AOB

Planning Meeting Minutes

Monday 7^th October 2013

Apologies

Mick G, Gary H, Valerie L, Tony M

Minutes of last meeting

Approved

Public Meeting

• Over 80 people attended public meeting at Archway Hall 19^th September, with speakers, including Dr Jacky Davis, Whittington consultant and Dr Louise Irvine, ‘Save Lewisham Hospital’ campaign, and Robert Aitken, Whittington Health Board Acting Chair and Dr Martin Kuper, Medical Director.
• Questions raised at meeting related to lack of trust in Board due to conflicting information and lack of transparency, eg at least 100 hospital jobs already lost, hidden in statistics, with conflicting figures of numbers of beds, and previous confirmation no bed losses emerging as untrue. Board conceded during meeting there have been bed losses, and declared unable to rule out further losses in future.

Manchester March Against Austerity, Tory Conference, 29^th September

• Members of group marched with DWHC banner, huge numbers, possibly 200,000 or more, in largest ever recorded demonstration in the North West. March dominated by ‘Save Our NHS’ presence. Chaos with coaches parking and picking up due to such huge numbers that police had not accounted for.

General

• Discussion of responses to DWHC questions previously put to the Board. Board state Ernst and Young paid £470,000, whilst PR shows cost £170,000. Discussion of this waste of money, with emphasis that figures exclude over £1 million paid to Unipart.
• SF confirmed DWHC’s limitations in supporting specific groups of workers within the hospital, and clarified full support for unions in taking action to protect hospital jobs and services. Following Jeremy Hunt’s refusal to allow 1% payrise for healthworkers, DWHC supports union action, including stike.
• SF outlined improvement in relationship and communication with Board since Joe Liddane’s departure. Discussed email received by DWHC suggesting campaign did not emphasise Joe Liddane’s sudden departure, eg at what cost, how much was he paid as Chair, for how many hours, and was he paid off?  And why is the Chief Executive still there. What role did she play in the debacle?
• Discussion of concerns in cuts in ongoing social care, and recent media reports of totally inadequate 15 minute care visits. Suggestion made that members get elected to Board, SF clarified that Governors are appointed and Board members are appointed not elected. Whilst members could be elected as Governors they have almost no power or influence, eg were not aware of the sell-off until read it in media. Suggestion made to encourage DWHC members via emails to seek election as Governors.

ACTION: JL to email BR copy of Board questions and answers.

Foundation Trust application

• Final submittance date now put back to Dec 2014 for all FT applications. PR confirmed will attend next Board meeting 23^rd October, and will ask Board for expected submittance date.
• SF emphasised concerns at hospital’s dependence on winning bids for community care, and on early discharge. Possibility that Whittington might merge with UCLH or Royal Free if FT application fails. BR stated not merger but acquisition, general agreement would be similar to free school takeover.

Chase Farm

• BR, ‘Save Chase Farm’ campaign and NE London Council of Action, updated on campaign and call for Judicial Review, full support expected from council for legal challenge of the closure. DWHC expressed full support to Chase Farm campaign, and general acknowledgment Chase Farm closure mooted as alternative to closure of Whittington A&E throughout DWHC’s A&E campaign. BR described court already ruled police were wrong to evict occupation at hospital following demonstration in February.
• Planned demonstartaion for 26^th October

ACTION: BR to email DWHC Chase Farm leaflet to put on website.

Website

• Thanks expressed to TM for all his excellent work maintaining and updating the website.
• Encouragement given to people to utilise the comments pages as a forum to generate discussion, also Facebook and Twitter.

Events coming up

• Demonstration ‘Cancel the PFI debt: defend our jobs and services’, Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel, Tuesday 8^th October, 5pm

• Protest against Gagging Law, day of vote, Tuesday 8^th October, midday, Parliament Square

• Workshop: ‘How do we save the NHS’, Unite the Resistance, 19^th October, 12 noon, Bloomsbury Baptist Church, Shaftsbury Avenue

• Whittington Health Board Meeting, Wed 23^rd October, 2-5pm, Education Centre, Room 6, Whittington Hospital

• Whipps Cross Hospital Public Meeting, Wed 23^rd October, 7pm, Leytonstone School, James Lane, regarding job cuts and sacking of whistleblower

• North London People’s Assembly Meeting, Saturday 26^th October, from 10am, Haringey Cypriot Community Centre, Earlham Grove, Wood Green, speakers include Tony Benn, Owen Jones, Ken Livingstone, SF for DWHC

• People’s Inquiry: London’s NHS, Friday 1^st November 2013, 2-7pm, Archway Methodist Hall, panel including Roy Lilley, Polly Toynbee and opportunity to present oral testimony. Part of a London-wide series of public hearings collating evidence on the NHS.

• Day of Health Workshops, Saturday 2^nd November, 11-4pm, North London Community House,  22 Moorefield Road    N17 6PY, organised by Haringey 38 degrees

• Islington Left Unity meeting: NHS privatisation, Tuesday 15^th October, 7pm, Old Fire sTation, Mayton St. No-one currently available from DWHC to speak

• Whittington Patients Consultative Meeting, 5^th December

AOB

• PR described attempts to resolve difficulties with Archway Co-op not displaying DWHC literature, JL described similar problems and no community board, despite recent upgrading of store. PR confirmed will be attending next South Eastern Co-operative meeting and will pose questions to try to resolve in accordance with the Co-op’s established commitment to supporting community groups.

The meeting closed. Next meeting Monday 4^th November, 7-9pm, Archway Methodist Church

Defend the Whittington Hospital Coalition activists were among  50,000 protesters who demonstrated in Manchester on Sunday 29 September as Conservative party delegates gathered in the city for the start of their annual conference.

The Save Our NHS protest was backed by health service unions whose members work at the Whittington.

The march was organised by the TUC, whose general secretary Frances O’Grady told a rally in the centre of Manchester that the NHS was facing the gravest crisis in its history.

“After promising there would be no top-down re-organisation, the government is wasting billions implementing reforms nobody wants and nobody voted for,” she said.

“The Prime Minister said NHS spending would be protected, but we’re seeing increased rationing of treatments, rising waiting lists, a growing number of closures and accident and emergency wards in disarray.

“In the last three months alone 21,000 NHS employees have lost their jobs, and those nurses, doctors and other health professionals that remain feel that no-one is listening to them and that they are being asked to achieve more with less.”

DWHC Minutes 2 September 2013

Place: Archway Methodist Church 19.00 – 20.45

Chair: Shirley Franklin Minutes: Valerie Lipman

1. Introductions and apologies

Shirley welcomed everyone to the meeting and expressed huge thanks for the campaign’s victory.

Apologies were received from Michael Paschale, Alice Kilroy, Jeremy Corbyn and Mike Hart.

2. Minutes and matters arising

Previous minutes were approved and signed as a correct record. There were no matters arising.

3. Update on Whittington

Shirley opened the update. She described the process from the press announcement (8th

July 2013) by Whittington Health of the turnaround in their strategy, to the two meetings held with members of the Board to learn more about the details of the changes and to raise DWHC’s concerns. In summary two of four buildings proposed for closure would close, there would be no bed losses, maternity numbers are to increase and, as far as possible, all permanent jobs would be maintained. There would be reductions in agency staff. The proposed clinical strategy to increase hospital patient throughput would go ahead as planned. The overall plan was now one of growth. Members of the DWHC were interviewed by local ITV and BBC news outside the hospital’s following the press briefing. Acknowledging the successes of the campaign Shirley was invited to meet a few members of the Board a couple of days later. At this meeting between members of the Board (Robert Aitkin -Vice-Chair, Martin Kuper – medical director and Caroline Thomsett, Communications Manager) and DHWC (Shirley, Jem, Valerie) we began on the long list of questions put together by the DWHC. They admitted that the original strategy was a mistake. Martin Kuper had to leave after 30 mins, so a second meeting was set up to go through the details of staffing and bed numbers and explore the impact of the clinical strategy on vulnerable groups. Second meeting attended by Martin, Caroline and Carol Gillen, head of the Integrated Care strategy. There was still an absence of definitive information about bed numbers and staffing, though they said the nursing/patient ratio would remain the same. They agreed to send us written answers to our questions. These had not arrived by this DWHC meeting.

Tricia expressed concern that the DWHC had attended the meeting with Board members without discussing it further with the group. She noted before leaving the meeting that she had been responsible for the article in the Tribune concerning the background of the new Chief Operation Officer at the Whittington. Jan commented on the integration strategy, saying her recent experience of being ‘thrown out’ of the system at the hospital had left very distressed and lacking in trust in the new system.

4. DWHC Public Meeting – 19th September 2013

All those present agreed to distribute leaflets. Other members of those present agreed to take on the following specific tasks:

a) Petition – agreed to use the national Save the NHS. Shirley to print off copies. Mick will sort at the meeting.

b) Collection – Jem & Valerie

c) Ticket sales for 29th demo – SF to ask Alistair Smith

d) Stall – Shirley to ask Jacky Davis to bring copies of her book.

e) Disabled access – Jem to check stairlift will be working. Note to go on the website saying the event will not be completely wheelchair accessible.

5. National Demo in Manchester – 29th September

Five members of the meeting confirmed they would be attending the march. Tony and Steve agreed to hold the banner.

6. DWHC – next steps and democracy within the DWHC.

Local and national issues were discussed.

i) Local action – agreed to keep a watching brief on the Trust application process, which now doesn’t have to be submitted until December 2014. Agreed that the group would:

• meet monthly from now on, on the first Monday of each month

• continue to attend hospital Board meetings, and that those attending should report back. Next Board meetings are 25th Sept and 23rd October

• attend the Board EGM(2.00) and AGM (6.30) on 18th Sept if possible

• Valerie and Pam agreed to attend the public CCG meeting on 4th September.

ii) National issues and action

• to hold a discussion meeting about CCGs, to increase our understanding of the issues

• to produce a leaflet that highlights the key facts about the impending impact of the changes in the NHS. Everyone to forward relevant information to Shirley, for example Kate offered to forward information from the Federation of Medical Students Conference that is happening in the next couple of weeks.

In the absence of those who had asked for a discussion about democracy to be put on the agenda nobody still present commented on the subject.

7. AOB

Jem suggested DWHC write a letter to the local papers thanking everyone – shopkeepers, local businesses etc – for their support. Steve agreed to do this.

The meeting closed at 8.45

The next meeting will be on October 7th at Archway Methodist Centre.