TRADE union members working at Ealing Hospital yesterday bought their tickets for next Tuesday’s meeting and pledged to march and occupy to defend the maternity unit which the management intends to close on June 24th (see ad this page).
Unite member Prithpal Marway, a healthcare assistant, bought three tickets for the meeting, saying: ‘We don’t want to close this hospital, my three children were born here. My father-in-law has cancer and he was admitted last night. I don’t know how we can cope without this hospital.’
RCN member Karen bought her ticket, saying: ‘It’s appalling. There will be terrible problems if this maternity closes. We have to stop it. It needs to be a nationwide thing – a general strike. I just wish the miners were still going, they would support us, just like we supported them all those years ago.’
Shani, a medical secretary, said: ‘They are playing with patient care. Every time they move a service they are undermining patient care. It is very harmful.’
Doris, an RCN and Unison member, said: ‘It is really bad. The community locally won’t have a maternity or A&E. Northwick Park is too far.’
Local mother Mariyan Saney said: ‘I had my five children at Ealing Hospital. One of them was risky and I had to have a blood transfusion. My twins were coming early and the midwives were so good, they treated me so well. We’ve got to stop the closure. We’ll tell everyone: march and occupy to stop the closure.’
Unison member MC, a nurse, said of the planned closure: ‘It’s disgraceful, another example of how terrible this Tory government is for the NHS. I’m in mental health and we are working with reduced staff, whereas our workload is increasing.’
