THE picket called each Wednesday by the South East London Council of Action, to prepare to defend Lewisham hospital with an occupation to keep it open, created huge interest this week, with residents and hospital workers continually stopping to lend support.
The Special Administrator, Matthew Kershaw, appointed by the coalition has passed his ‘consultation’ results and recommendations to Jeremy Hunt, the Health Minister, with the recommendation that the South London NHS Trust be ‘dissolved’ and other providers take over the running of NHS services.
Hunt will make his decision on 1st February, and no one who spoke to News Lines was prepared to accept Kershaw’s recommendations.
These include the closure of Lewisham Hospital’s A&E, Maternity and Critical Care units, and the merger of Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich and Princess Royal Hospital in Bromley.
Marlene Sealy, a Lewisham resident stopped to talk to the picket. She said: It is important to keep this hospital open because without it people will die.
‘I can’t believe these commissioners are even thinking of it. They are wicked.
‘Everyone should come together to fight this and bring this coalition down completely.
‘Cameron wants to be in power for another seven years, but I can’t see it myself. People who had nothing to do with the slump like single mothers and people with disabilities are being targeted. It’s gone too far.’
A young worker at Lewisham Hospital, who asked to remain anonymous, said: ‘I was born in Lewisham Hospital, but now they want us all to move all the way out of the area to Woolwich, it is unacceptable.
‘Not only was I born here I now work here, and I know that there is more and more work coming into the hospital.
‘We are temporary staff, hired to cover vacancies for a small period of time, but we have been here for months and the managers are expecting us to keep doing the job but not getting the same wages and conditions as NHS employed staff.
‘As agency staff we are expected to do the jobs to the same ability as trained staff, but we get no training. We should have more of a voice without fear of losing our jobs. We want equality at work.’
Anne Shuman from People Before Profit said: ‘Lewisham Hospital is the only hospital in the borough and we do not want people to travel. The hospital is viable with A&E layout. I had a fainting fit and was brought in. It is excellent.
‘The Private Finance Initiative is stupid.
‘We need a more intensive fight.
‘We did not vote for this government. People are getting so angry, and we need to get angrier, angry enough to bring the government down, like the Poll Tax.
‘I agree that a hospital occupation will keep the wards open if they try to proceed with the closure.’
John Graham, Secretary of The South East London Council of Action, said: ‘What’s happening here at Lewisham is only the tip of the iceberg as far as this coalition government is concerned.
‘The only way they can keep British capitalism afloat is by the complete destruction of the welfare state.
‘This means not only the end of the National Health Service but the end of council housing and affordable higher education for young people.
‘The only way to defeat their plans is to set up Councils of Action in every area to defend all services under attack.
‘The trade union leaders have to be called to account and made to take action to defend these services – action which would have the support of the whole of the working class.’
A Council of Action meeting to discuss the defence of our hospitals, schools, fire stations, council estates and all other services is called for Tuesday 15 January at 7.30pm at St Mary’s Centre, Ladywell Road, Lewisham SE13 7HU.
There is also a demonstration through Lewisham on Saturday 26th January assembling at 12noon at Lewisham Roundabout.
l The BMA is warning of huge doctors job losses in mental health cuts in East Anglia
500 jobs and 20% of beds are due to go in massive cuts to mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk.
But doctors’ leaders in the BMA have said that staff and the public are not being given the full story.
Peter Mitchell, the regional BMA co-ordinator, said ‘The current level of staff vacancies is already causing problems and the loss of more staff will exacerbate the situation.
The consultation with the public and patients is inadequate. The trust’s website does not give the full picture of the changes since it omits the details of the job cuts. The website states that the trust is proposing “some service changes”, but these are significant changes.’
He said that doctors were being targeted in the new plans, with proposals to cut one third of consultants and 40% of other grades of doctors.
The Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (FT) and NHS Norfolk and Waverney have developed plans for ‘radical pathway redesign’ for mental health services.
This involves removing 502 frontline jobs and reducing beds in Norfolk and Waverney from 225 to 172, and from 150 to 117 in Suffolk.
They say there will be a new access and assessment service for the two counties combined and ‘new roles and ways of working’ for staff.
The mental health trusts in Norfolk and Suffolk were merged in January 2012, in order to gain FT status. There are 1.5m people in this huge area which stretches from Kings Lynn to Felixstowe.
The FT is now pushing ahead to make 5% cuts per annum up to 2015 as part of the national £20bn QIPP cuts.
Campaigners and members of the public, including patients, carers, councillors, and health staff, rallied in Lowestoft town centre in November in protest against these cuts. Already, the Poppies Day Service at Carlton Court, which provides services for the over 65s with dementia and mental health problems, is down to close in February.
l Plans have been produced to reduce dental services on the NHS in Northern Ireland.
Many treatments such as root canals on molar teeth could be be removed. This will be done by running any request for treatment past a Business Services Organisation to gain approval.
The idea behind this is to cut costs. Health officials estimate that if they continue to provide the current amount of dental care that they will have ‘overspent’ their budget by £12m in 2012/3/
Orthodontic treatments would only be signed off if the patient suffered poor esteem due to their teeth.
Northern Ireland currently suffers the worst dental problems in the UK. Dentists warn that if these proposals go through, it will ‘drag dental health services in Northern Ireland back 50 years’.
The Health Minister Edwin Poots announced a public consultation to run till April. He said: ‘I would like to assure the public that all treatment will still be available to patients where they are clinically appropriate’.
