Join a March and Rally Against NHS Cuts on Saturday
H&F and Ealing Councils team up for protest starting at Acton Park
Save Our Hospitals campaigners are teaming up with councils in Hammersmith and Fulham and Ealing for a protest march through West London followed by rally on Saturday 30 September.
Residents are being urged to join the local march, which begins at Acton Park at 11.30am then travelling along The Vale and Acton High Street to Ealing Common.
There they will meet up marchers taking part in a second march from Southall and the joint rally will begin at Ealing Common at 1pm.
The rally will include speeches from local community leaders, including H&F Council’s Leader, Cllr Stephen Cowan and Merrill Hammer from Save our Hospitals.
Merrill says: "Save Our Hospitals: Hammersmith and Charing Cross is fully supporting the demonstration. We are a group of local campaigners who have been fighting to save local hospitals and the NHS more widely for more than 5 years now.
" We are not party political. It is important, however, that both councils know that the local population is supporting them. SOH knows this from our regular street campaigning - but we need now to show this to health bosses. Our hospitals and our NHS will not be protected if we fail to demonstrate our support."
The published proposals for Charing Cross Hospital include:
Demolishing the current Charing Cross Hospital and selling off most of the site
Replacing the current Charing Cross Hospital with a series of clinics on a site no more than 13% the size of the current hospital
Re-branding these clinics as a ‘local hospital’
Replacing the current A&E with an urgent care clinic
Losing more than 300, and possibly all, the acute care beds.
Maternity and paediatric services at Ealing have already been closed, while the A&E at Hammersmith Hospital was ended in 2015.
" If you are concerned about losing your local A&E or cuts to services at Charing Cross Hospital, come and make your voice heard," says Cllr Cowan.
"If the NHS’s flawed plans go ahead, thousands of residents will lose local access to essential services – including blue-light A&Es, intensive care, maternity and paediatric units. People with some chronic conditions will also have to travel further for regular treatment."
The two councils and Save Our Hospitals have also launched a petition and are urging people to make their voices heard by adding their signatures. You can sign it here.
September 28, 2017
The council has also:
Commissioned a public inquiry led by Michael Mansfield QC that has provided a strong evidence base for why the proposals are wrong. Read the full report here (pdf).
Refused to sign the ‘North West London STP’.
Commissioned a review of the NHS proposals and the STP – Read the review (pdf 4MB).
Launched a petition – alongside Ealing Council – to help save our local hospitals. Sign the petition today.
Meanwhile, a decision by the Secretary of State to close the blue-light A&Es and other vital services at Ealing is expected early next year. Significant concerns have been raised about the safety and scale of the NHS’s plan, which would leave three London boroughs – with a total population the size of Leeds – without a major hospital.
Under the NHS ‘Shaping a Healthier Future’ proposals, there will be no critical care, acute beds, blue-light ambulances, A&E, maternity units or children’s ward in either hospital. The remaining urgent care centre at Ealing hospital would be led by GPs, not consultants. Charing Cross is facing similar closures later.
And in total, more than 500 beds would be lost across north west London.
