‘DEFEND Ealing Hospital – Occupy Now!’ and ‘No Cuts, No Closures – Kick this Government Out!’, were the slogans that dominated the march of up to 10,000 people as it left Southall Park in West London on Saturday.
The volume of the chants increased as the march passed the closure-threatened Ealing Hospital, and then again as it reached the busy streets of Ealing Broadway before proceeding
Marchers are determined to defend the NHS and defeat NHS North West London plans to close down the Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments, and other departments including Maternity and Paediatrics, at four local hospitals – Ealing, Charing Cross, Hammersmith and Central Middlesex.
The ‘Justice for the Gate Gourmet Sacked Workers’ banner was on the march, as was the banner of the North East London Council of Action, which states: ‘Defend the NHS By All Means Necessary! Save Chase Farm’.
Many marchers bought tickets for the North East London Council of Action conference next Sunday (see advert page 2), which is being held to prepare the way for the the occupation of Chase Farm Hospital in Enfield against its threatened closure, to establish a network of Councils of Action to halt all hospital closures, and to organise the fight for national action by the trade unions to defend the NHS by bringing down the coalition government and bringing in a workers government.
Marchers shouted: ‘No Privatisation – Defend the NHS!’, ‘Victory to the Gate Gourmet Workers – No Slave Labour!’, ‘Save Ealing Hospital – Defend the NHS!’
Health workers, campaigners, local residents and youth spoke to News Line on the march and said what they thought should be done to defeat the government’s NHS privatisation and hospital closure programme.
Dr P J Sandhu, Hospital Practitioner who works in Vascular Surgery and Cardiology at Ealing Hospital, bought his ticket for the conference and told News Line: ‘This hospital must not close, it would kill me. I qualified in 1972 and have been working for NHS London since 4th August 1973.
‘We have seen lots of closures, but never on such a grand scale. They’ve closed Victorian cottage hospitals, but never modern hospitals. Ealing is one of the most modern hospitals, built in the 1980s, with one of the busiest A&Es.
‘It serves a very diverse and unique population. In my own practice, I see people from twelve different nationalities and lots of first generation immigrants who don’t speak the language. Language and transport are a very big issue. We have to save all the A&Es.’
Local resident Mahat Abdi also bought his ticket. He said: ‘We refuse to let the government cut our NHS. We can’t let them. I am a diabetic and I’m always at Ealing Hospital. It must be saved.’
Farah Afzal, from Southall, who also bought a ticket, said: ‘I care about social services and the NHS. It’s ridiculous to cut health. Health comes first. If this government wants to carry on like this it should be kicked out. We should occupy the hospitals, we can’t let them close.’
Dolores Williams led a lively contingent from Ealing, Hammersmith and Fulham Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Support Group. She said: ‘There are about 30 of us in the group and I’m Chairlady. There are nine of us on the march so far today and more should be joining en route.
‘Our thing is to help with the social side. We are raising awareness of the condition, trying to prevent isolation. We go to workshops to help the health professionals improve the service they provide. In fact the hospital A&Es that are targeted are where all our patients attend. Our fear is death!
‘My daughter has the condition and she’s been to Ealing A&E seven times this year. When a patient has a Sickle Cell crisis it’s important they get to the Casualty within a certain timeframe. That can determine how fatal the crisis is going to be. We work closely with the professional specialist nurse and the paediatric consultant. We’ll do absolutely anything to keep it open.’
Richard Donovan, a nurse and RCN member at Ealing Hospital, said: ‘I started work at Ealing in 1983, left twice, returned on each occasion, and I’ve been back there since 1991. It’s just a very nice place to work.
‘It opened in 1979 and I actually trained there as a nurse. It’s my local hospital, so it’s not just important to me because I work there, but I would be treated there if I fell ill.
‘It’s imperative that we win this fight and stand up for the people who cannot stand up for themselves.
‘The example of previous privatisations is an omen for what could happen to the NHS.’
Patrick Hughes, who was on the march in a wheelchair, shouted the slogans continuously.
He told News Line: ‘I’ve been hospitalised for most of my life. I need treatment all the time.
‘I’m a patient at Ealing from way back, with my spine and my hips. I’ve been there so many times.
‘I’ve just had a call from my sister in Dublin. I told her I was on this march and she said that over there they tried to stop the benefits from the old aged and the disabled, and what the people did was, they camped outside the government buildings and the government backed down.
‘We have to organise. This borough is crowded and to take away the hospitals is suicidal. I was in the borough when they built the hospital, it was only 40 years ago. This government has to go. A general strike would show we mean business.’
Mary Turner, President of the GMB, told the Rally on Ealing Common, at the end of the march: ‘I live in Brent and have done since I was 12. I attend Charing Cross and have done for the last two years, so I need this hospital just like all of you.
‘Just as you’ve all turned out today, I would urge you to turn out on October 20th.’
GLA Member, Dr Onkar Sahota told the Rally: ‘This weekend the NHS took out adverts in the newspapers called ‘the myths’.
‘I’ll tell you what the myths are: ‘It’s myth that you can improve the NHS by closing its A&Es;
‘It’s a myth to claim that doctors support these plans.
‘It’s a myth to say that transport doesn’t matter. The longer it takes a critically ill patient to be admitted has been shown to affect outcomes.
‘It’s a myth to say they can divide us. We say no cuts to Ealing, Charing X, Hammersmith, Central Middlesex, no cuts!
‘We are not going to give up. This is a fight to number 10 Downing Street.
‘The prime minister can hide, but he can’t get away with it.
Dr Sahota concluded to loud cheers: ‘The reason I won this seat was because you care about the NHS. 10 Downing Street Here We Come!’
Dr Amerjit Sethi, a consultant at Ealing, condemned the ‘consultation Document’, saying ‘these plans are just based on old figures’ under which, he warned, ‘there will be no emergency surgeries in Ealing’.
He declared: ‘The solution is, we fight to stop this unjust war and we fight to maintain our hospitals.’
After the rally, two local young men from Southall, spoke to News Line.
Amir Amir, aged 26, said: ‘This hospital means everything to a lot of people, including me, and if we don’t fight for it we’re going to lose it. Personally, the hospital has helped me a lot.
‘I’ve broken a lot of bones, I’ve had a lot of care, and it’s all been free. Not just that, I’ve had top quality professional treatment, not just patched up. In any other country I would have had to pay a lot of money.
‘So I say, let’s occupy Ealing Hospital and all closure-threatened hospitals. We can’t let them close.’
