Campaign responds to Healthcare for London consultation

16 March 2008 The Save Whipps Cross hospital campaign has given a detailed and considered response to proposals from London’s Primary Care Trusts on the future of healthcare in London. The full response is available here [PDF].

The consultation was based around the ideas in a document called “Healthcare for London: Consulting the Capital”, itself heavily influenced by the report published last summer by health minister Professor Ara Darzi. Consultation closed on 7 March.

Save Whipps Cross – the party

16 January 2008 As the campaign heads into 2008, we thought it was time to celebrate successes so far and arm ourselves to challenge plans that may threaten local health services.

Don’t get us wrong: we haven’t won yet. But we have made some really big advances exemplified in the report in November from NHS Director of Clinical Excellence Professor Alberti, which vindicated our arguments for keeping Whipps Cross Hospital as a fully functioning acute district general hospital.(see Huge step forward for Whipps).

So we have decided to hold a party for all our friends and supporters. The date to mark in your diary is Saturday 16 February, 7.30 till late. Admission (£5) includes food and your first drink (children £1 including food), plus music including singing from an a cappella street choir Velvet Fist, dancing with our DJ Matthew, and a chance to talk and relax. More

Make sure you are consulted

16 January 2008 London’s Primary Care Trusts have started a huge public consultation on the future of the capital’s healthcare, and the Save Whipps Cross campaign is urging all supporters to take part.

The consultation is based around the ideas in a document called “Healthcare for London: Consulting the Capital”, which in turn is heavily influenced by the report published last summer by health minister Professor Ara Darzi. It closes on 7 March. More

Huge step forward for Whipps – but fight for health services not over yet

17 October 2007 We are delighted that the report this month from NHS Director of Clinical Excellence Professor Alberti has vindicated our arguments for keeping Whipps Cross Hospital as a fully functioning acute district general hospital.

But the NHS remains under threat both locally and nationally, and we will continue to fight for investment in buildings and staff at Whipps and an end to cuts and ward closures. We are urging local people to attend the national march and a rally in defence of the National Health Service in central London on Saturday, 3 November. More

Public meeting: SAVE WHIPPS CROSS! YOUR NHS – YOUR SAY!

Tuesday 18 September, 7.30 pm (doors open at 7.00 pm). Sir James Hawkey Hall, Broomhill Road, Woodford Green IG8 0BG. Disabled access and facilities. Organised jointly with Keep Our NHS Public.

Speakers include Dr Alan Hakim, Whipps Cross Consultant; Norma Dudley, Unite/Amicus and Health Visitor; Charlotte Monro, Unison and Occupational Therapist; and Professor Colin Leys, Honorary Professor at the Centre for International Public Health Policy, Edinburgh. More

National demonstration to celebrate and defend the NHS

Saturday 3 November, Trafalgar Square. Assemble at Temple Place, Vicgtoria Embankment, at 11am.

Let’s have a huge contingent from north east London to say no to closures, cuts and privatisation. It’s our NHS. We will defend it.

Prepare for battle: date set for consultation

29 June 2007. Public consultation on the future of Whipps Cross and King George’s Hospitals is now planned for October 2007 – originally due early this year. The strength of the campaign to save Whipps Cross took the authorities by surprise with widespread opposition to proposals that include downgrading either Whipps or King George’s or both to no more that a day care walk-in centre. More

A letter to the minister – local resident lays it on the line

28 May A local resident has written a devastating letter to health minister Patricia Hewitt about the possible changes to Whipps Cross. More

Welcome to Whipps – and here’s a card

21 May. When NHS London Chief Executive Ruth Carnall visited Whipps Cross in May she received a message from the local community and the staff at Whipps – Confirm the future of our hospital as a district general hospital now, fully functioning and fully funded. A large card signed by over 30 local organisations was handed to her. More

There’s no such thing as a free lunch

27 March A campaign supporter found herself being part of the strange process that the NHS calls consultation. Enter, if you dare, the parallel universe of the focus group... More

Why we need Whipps – local Guardian editor

27 March Pat Stannard, Editor of the Waltham Forest Guardian, is a strong supporter of Whipps. She was unable to be there at our rally in February, but here is the text of what she had planned to say. More

3rd March - day of action for health

28 February Saturday 3 March will see activity across Britain - and London - in defence of the health service. In London north of the Thames there are marches in Hackney, Brent, Lambeth, Haringey and Tower Hamlets, plus a "Hands around the Hospital" event at Chase Farm in Enfield. There is also a central London rally.

The Save Whipps Cross banner will be on the Hackney march. We are assembling at Hackney Town Hall at 12 noon. For more details on the event (and all the others), see the NHS Together and Keep OIur NHS Public websites.

The London rally is at Friends Meeting House, Euston Road (opposite Euston station, kicking off at 1.30pm.

Thousands march for Whipps

4 February 2,000 people came out on Saturday to demand Whipps Cross Hospital stays as our district general hospital, fully functioning and fully funded. The mood was buoyant and determined as we marched from Whipps Cross to Walthamstow, Save Whipps Cross Hospital banner and samba band at the head. More

Local MPs force Whipps debate in Parliament

1 February. Our local MPs secured a debate in the House of Commons yesterday evening. In it they presented a united front in favour of keeing Whipps as a district general hospital - and putting more money into it. Download the full transcript of the debate and see how Whipps has found its way onto the national political agenda.

40,000 sign petitions to save Whipps

19 January. Chingford and Woodford Green MP Ian Duncan Smith presented the parliamentary petition signed by 21,000 residents to the House of Commons on 18 January, bringing the total - including some 19,000 who signed the Waltham Forest Guardian petition - to 40,000. More

Axe still hangs over Whipps

12 January. No decision has yet been announced as to which proposed "Fit for the Future" health reorganisation options will go for formal public consultation. We are expecting that papers may go to Trust Boards next month and from there to NHS London, the Strategic Health Authority, before three months of public consultation in the spring - but no date has been made pubic. Meanwhile, he need to keep Whipps Cross as a District General Hospital has become more and more obvious even to the majority involved in the official assessment of options. More

Whipps makes its mark in national day of action

15 December. Whipps Cross staff and campaigners gathered outside the hospital main gates on a national day of action against health cuts and closures. Over 100 people came out in their lunch hour, including teachers from local schools and members of the public. All three local MPs joined the rally as well as several councillors. Meanwhile, across the River Lea in Haringey health campaigners demonstrated at four local sites threatened with cuts. More

Ward stays open as public and staff present pleas to Board

1 December Members of the public and staff attended the Trust Board meeting on 1 December to call for Conifer Ward to be kept open. The staff side unions presented a letter to the Board members. One man from Walthamstow related how a few years ago his mother had been cared for in Conifer and received excellent care from the staff, but he remembered the 12 hour wait in A&E. More

Whipps gaining favour

1 December: A personal view from campaign Vice Chair and Secretary Alan Hakim.

I have been informed by a highly reliable source that the Fit for Future Financial Appraisal that took place yesterday has reported in favour of Option 4. This is the option that retains Whipps Cross as a District General Hospital. We were already aware that the non-financial appraisal had placed Option 4 as first choice; great news for Whipps Cross.

All those who stand by the hospital through this process should feel justified in their convictions. The support from our patients, the public, general practitioners, the unions, local councils, MPs, and the local Guardian newspaper has been phenomenal. More

Doctors pledge their support for Whipps campaign

[By Jonathan Bunn. This article is reprinted with kind permission from the 23 November issue of the Waltham Forest Guardian.]

21 November. General practitioners and consultants have pledged their support for maintaining a full range of services at Whipps Cross University Hospital. More

Council pledges support for the campaign

13 November. Waltham Forest Council unanimously backed the campaign to save Whipps Cross as a modern general hospital at an emergency meeting Council meeting on Monday 13 November. More

Campaign talks to options officials

9 November. Health officials and others meeting to decide the options for the future of local health services that will go out to public consultation next year were met as they went to West Ham Hospitality Suite by a group of local campaigners. More

MPs pledge support at Walthamstow meeting

2 November. Around 200 people were present at the Al Badr hall in Lea Bridge Road, Walthamstow, on Thursday 2 November as speaker after speaker condemned the manoueverings that could leave us without a local district general hospital. More

Local contingent swells national lobby

1 November. Hundreds of NHS staff turned up at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster to join a rally and to lobby their MPs about their concerns for the future of the National Health Service. More

Huge public meeting in Woodford hits the news

26 October. More than 700 people crammed into Hawkey Hall, Woodford, on Thursday 26 October to hear doctors, patients and politicians condemn the threat to Whipps Cross. More