"It's Time to Take the Politics Out of Health, to Stand Up for Our Hospitals"
Dede Wilson is standing in Munster ward for the National Health Action party
In Munster Ward, Fulham residents will have the opportunity to vote for Dede Wilson, standing for the National Health Action Party, which with its slogan Patients Not Profits, says it at the end of 2012 because we believed that a new political party was needed to defend the NHS and its values.
Dede, an international English and Modern Language teacher trainer and former school governor, is calling for a halt to the downgrading and closure of the main Charing Cross hospital.
It’s set to be replaced with a GP-led Health and Social Care Hospital with no blue light A&E and means the loss of one of the top 10 teaching hospitals in the world.
The hospital site has been earmarked to be sold off for property development.
Ms Wilson, who has been actively involved from the start of the local Save our Hospitals Campaign, says this government is intent on leading England towards a US-style private health system, which would be a disaster.
She says: " It’s time to take the politics out of health, to stand up for our hospitals, our National Health Service and the health of our nation. For me, health is not an ideological political football. What is happening to our NHS is undemocratic, unacceptable and an abuse of power by both Central and local government.
" We are faced with not only losing all the A&Es in the borough but losing Charing Cross Hospital, an exceptional major hospital. Closing it makes no sense.
"It is perfectly situated with patient friendly access. Its location in Hammersmith and Fulham is the hub into Central London from Heathrow and the West. It is a very important internationally renowned teaching hospital with the best stroke unit in the country and is one of the top 10 medical schools in the world.
" It is to be sold for luxury flats, its specialist teams to be broken up and the medical school dispersed. All this, at a time when there is a desperate shortage of doctors coming into the profession.
" Our local council was the only one in the country that did not support its electorate and denied us a chance to oppose this shocking and disastrous decision.
" The NHS is a public service. It has problems that have to be solved, but Americanising it through privatization is not the answer.
" The Coalition Government’s Health and Social Care Act were brought in by the back door. It is time to redress the balance and restore open democracy."
You can find out more about the National Health Action Party, which also has eight European Election Candidates in London here.
You can find more about the campaign against the downgrading of local hospitals, including Charing Cross and Hammersmith at Save Our Hospitals.
May 21, 2014
May 21, 2014
