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.

Before the debate started, councillors heard from longstanding Whipps patient and Save Whipps Cross Hospital Campaign committee member Paul Diamond, 81. "I am a person to the doctors and staff who look after me. But listening to the hospital and Primary Care Trust statements, I am not a person, I am a statistic."

Paul was followed by campaign chair Charlotte Monro. "Despite the financial difficulties Whipps Cross has had," said the Whipps occupational therapist, "how it has been underfunded for the work it has done, we received a rating of 'good' for clinical care."

Outside the Town Hall a good crowd of protesters gathered to let councillors know, in the words of campaign member and health visitor Norma Dudley, "We are here t to make it clear to our elected representatives that they are here to represent our interests."

Councillors are urgently calling for a cross-party meeting with the Secretary of State for Health to make their views known. They want the government to ensure that sufficient money goes into maintaining frontline services, and the range of services currently available locally to be kept.