‘SAVE the Charlie Chaplin children’s ward! Don’t let it close!’ shouted over fifty local residents, workers and campaigners at the mass picket of Ealing Hospital last Friday morning.
The West London Council of Action are calling for strike action of NHS workers inside the hospital and a march and strike action of workers at the airport, bus garages, fire stations and train stations outside the hospital on June 29th.
This is the day before the Charlie Chaplin children’s ward is earmarked for closure on June 30th. The council of action is calling for an occupation of the children’s ward to keep the services running.
Not only is the children’s department threatened with closure, but after June 30th the A&E has been ordered to turn anyone who is under 16 years old away. They will be told to seek an alternative A&E at another hospital. Unfortunately Hammersmith A&E and Central Middlesex A&E have already been shut down!
On Friday’s mass picket, local resident Mr P. Patel told News Line: ‘We have to stop these closures and the only way is to get the support of all the staff at the hospital. ‘The only way to save the children’s ward is with real action from within the hospital. ‘All staff at Ealing Hospital must join the march on June 29th, which means that the entire hospital will be shut except emergency services and the children’s ward.
‘This will focus attention on the children’s ward. The children’s ward staff must continue to treat children. This is D-Day for action, everybody must join in. And what is Unite doing? The Unite union and all the unions must take action immediately. What is happening in France with everything shutting down and everyone out on strike, that form of uprising is coming here to this country.’
Construction worker Florin Nicoara said: ‘It is not right to close the facilities. This is about children with illnesses and they need treatment. The NHS needs to be defended and there needs to be a strike.’
Last year on July 1st the maternity ward at Ealing Hospital was shut down. Seven-year-old Rowan Ryder said: ‘They have already closed the part of the hospital for mums. A lady might have a child in her tummy and she may be in pain. It is not fair to make her travel far away to another hospital.’
His sister Ellie Ryder, aged 9, added: ‘I think that it is a good idea to keep the children’s ward open. There are children who live in this area whose families do not own cars, how are they going to travel to another hospital?’
Teja Singh said: ‘My family are all socialists. I came here in 1969 and have been on more than 100 demonstrations. However this cause concerns everyone, the NHS belongs to all of us. It will be very difficult for the community if they take away the children’s ward. Buses, trains, everyone must strike on June 29th to stop the closure.’
Kewal Rai joined the picket. He said: ‘It is so important to keep the children’s ward open. We need this hospital, it is near to us, we have had this hospital since 1979. It is so handy for the local community.
‘I used to work as a security guard here in 1986, at that time you could park where you wanted in the hospital grounds for free. Now it costs £4.60 for a two-hour stay to park in Ealing Hospital.’
12-year-old Nick Roy said: ‘Children can get meningitis. If they have to take a child all the way to Northwick Park Hospital they could die on he way!’
Equity member David Girt came to the picket as Charlie Chaplin. He told News Line: ‘Time is short! We have to continue to unite together to save children’s services in Ealing and in lots of other places. We should be building up things for our children, not shutting them down.’
Audrey Hale, an Ealing nurse in the RCN union, said: ‘I cannot believe that they can try to close the children’s department in a big area like this. What are children going to do? Where are they going to go? By the time they reach the next hospital it could be too late, especially if the child is having an asthma attack. The doctors and the nurses in the children’s ward must continue to treat sick children. Everyone who has a child is not happy to see the children’s ward close.’
Regular picket Surjit Chohan said: ‘Save Ealing Hospital and the Charlie Chaplin children’s ward. Everyone must come out and support this struggle. Everyone feels for the hospital and feels angry that they are trying to close the services down. I went into the children’s ward and the staff said that they are very upset. They said that all the equipment is new, it is a newly refurbished ward, why do they want to close it down?
‘Staff are worried about their jobs. The staff have to keep treating sick children and occupy and refuse to leave and say “we are going to stay here too, they are our children and they need treatment!”’
Julian Bell, the Labour leader of Ealing Council, said: ‘Lives will be put at risk if this closure goes ahead. If children have to be taken by ambulance from here to another A&E, time is against them and it puts lives at risk. The Charlie Chaplin children’s ward was re-furbished and re-opened in 2012. My daughter is a TV presenter and she re-opened it.’
Samantha Schmidt also slammed the proposals to close the Charlie Chaplin children’s ward. She is the mother of Lucas Schmidt, a child with Down’s syndrome who has already had 19 operations at the closure-threatened ward. Lucas Schmidt also suffers from Hirschsprung’s disease, which causes colon malfunction.
He regularly relies on the Charlie Chaplin children’s ward at Ealing Hospital. Schmidt, who returned to Ealing from Luxembourg because of the ‘amazing NHS,’ is fearful of what changes could mean for Lucas. She said: ‘We were at home for a week following his last visit and then he got double pneumonia.
‘We were rushed into Ealing Hospital and they had support, they put him straight into a bed. We may have never made it. Ealing Hospital saved his life. My son was dying. If we were told there was a delay and that we would have to wait for hospital transportation, then sent to another hospital, he could have had brain damage by then.
‘He also gets visitors in Ealing and I can’t tell you the difference that made to my son – he had friends and family turn up. Close to home, I can at least say “grandma is coming to see us”, but I can’t say that when we’re all the way in Harrow. How can they justify closing it?’
l The West London Council of Action has put out a call for everyone to join the strike, march and occupation of Ealing Hospital on June 29th. The leaflet reads: ‘Stop the closure of the Charlie Chaplin children’s ward & all children’s services!
‘On June 30th the Tory government and NHS England are to close the Charlie Chaplin children’s ward and all children’s services at Ealing Hospital. This closure must be stopped because the cost of it will be paid for with the lives of our children.
‘We urge all trade unions at Ealing Hospital to immediately hold emergency meetings of all their members to decide that they will not allow the closure, they will not allow the transfer of staff and that they will occupy it to prevent it from closing. This is absolutely vital to defend the NHS and to defend the children of west London.
‘We also urge all trade unions in the west London area, at the airport and in industry around the airport and in bus and tube depots throughout the area and the fire service to mobilise to stop the closure and look after our children.
‘We urge the unions and student unions at all universities, colleges and schools throughout the area to take a decision to stop this closure. The West London Council of Action urges all trade unionists and all the community to take strike action on Wednesday June 29th and to march to the hospital to occupy these services and prevent their closure.
‘We urge Labour MPs; shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Virendra Sharma, Rupa Huq and Stephen Pound to head this demonstration and to declare their determination to take all steps necessary to stop the closure of the children’s services and to defeat the Tories.
‘The Cameron government is now in a tremendous crisis but remains determined to smash and privatise the NHS. They Must be stopped.
Support an occupation!
‘Strike on June 29th and march on the hospital!
‘Defend children’s services and save children’s lives!
‘Join the March to the hospital – stop all closures!
‘Assemble: 1pm Beresford Road, Off Southall Broadway (Next to Miri Piri Gurdwara).
‘March: 2pm along Uxbridge Road.
‘Rally: 3pm at Ealing Hospital.
‘The West London Council of Action calls on all workers, local residents, students and youth to join its daily picket of the hospital every morning Monday to Friday from 7am-9am.’