DEFEND THE WHITTINGTON HOSPITAL COALITION

OK, it wasn’t much of a cavalcade to be honest but it was a smashing few hours by Archway Station. The DWHC car spread the message, flyers were distributed and several sheets of petitions were filled. Jeremy Corbyn came along bearing much appreciated coffees and support.

People really do feel very strongly about this. Having spent much of my leafleting time for other causes seeing people take a leaflet and shortly thereafter chuck it in a bin it’s a real pleasure to see them stop in their tracks as they read DWHC leaflets, turn around and come back to find out more.

There are a couple of photos but unfortunately WordPress seems to be having a bit of a moment and won’t let me put them on the site.  I’ll pop ’em on the Facebook group instead and hopefully get ’em up here when WordPress stops being stroppy.

Thanks to all of you for your support.  We can save our A&E if we shout loudly enough and our voices aren’t even warmed up yet.

Dave Plummer,

DWHC secretary and web fella’.

This has been a busy week so probably not the best timing for the Googlemail address to decide it was no longer going to send emails. We’ve now set up a new email address at dwhc@dwhc.org.uk which we will use to send the weekly(ish) email updates. More regular updates will, as usual, be posted here on the site. You can sign up to the email list here.

DWHC joint chair Shirley Franklin was on Eddie Nestor’s  BBC Radio London this Tuesday talking about the campaign. The item starts about an hour and fourteen minutes into the programme  here (BBC iPlayer.)

The Camden New Journal have a front page story about the campaign this week, Stars Fight for Future of Hospital.

STARS of stage and screen have told how the threatened accident and emergency department at the Whittington Hospital helped their families – and how they are desperate for it not to close.

A host of famous faces have now swung behind a campaign – backed by the New Journal and our sister paper the Islington Tribune – to keep the treasured facility open.

Steve McFadden, best known as EastEnders hardman Phil Mitchell, said: “I don’t want to see the A&E close. I have used it a lot, particularly for my children as they have a fantastic children’s facility.

“The care is of a very high standard. When my daughter was a newborn baby she was ill and was admitted to the specialist children’s facility through the A&E. She stayed there for a week and the care she received was very good. The Royal Free is oversubscribed already and it’s not as if you don’t have to wait long enough to get seen.” Read more of the article Here.

The online petition reached 50 signatures this week and it looks like we’ve nearly 3000 on the paper ones.

Tomorrow’s cavalcade looks like it will be noticed! Please come along and join us at 11.30 outside The Whittington.

Please remember to join our Facebook group, sign up for the march and rally on 27th February, sign the petition, follow us on Twitter and spread the word.

This Saturday the Defend the Whittington Hospital Coalition will be running a cavalcade to promote our campaign and the rally of 27th February.

Please come along and join us outside the Whittington at midday.

Submitted by Dave Morris of Defend Haringey’s Health Services Coaltion; NHS NCL Strategy Plan distributed by Lynne Featherstone MP.

We now have the NHS official proposals for North Central London area. The key pages are pages 79-82 with the ‘7 scenarios’.

Its clearly an attack on the services at all North London’s hospitals, and we have to stick together and resist any ‘divide and rule’ tactics.

All of the scenarios seem to downgrade most of the Hospitals with only one scenario maintaining any of the 6 hospitals as a District General Hospital (Scenario 1 – for Barnet and North Middx).

Re: Whittington specifically:

– All ‘scenarios’ include an ‘Urgent Care Centre’.

– 3 scenarios include full A&E retained, 2 scenarios retain just 16hrs A&E, 2 scenarios have no A&E.

It needs checking carefully… but the battle is well and truly on.

North Central London NHS Strategy Plan 2010 – 2014: Options document

– by Rachel Tyndall, NHS North Central London

Click here to download (.pdf, 2.27 mb)

From the BBC site:

All this week BBC London is looking at health care in the capital from A&E, polyclinics, ambulance services to local surgeries.

There’s not much there but it’s worth a look and they want our comments (the email address is at the bottom of their page.)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/london/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8491000/8491685.stm

Get emailing!