Olivia’s story:

I feel very strongly about the threatened closure of A & E at Whittington. This is partly for all the reasons put forward by others – the ridiculousness of the Royal Free being able to cope with increased numbers, the journey time from places like Crouch End or Hornsey (even Highgate) and the nightmare of Pond Street and parking (not good even at Whittington but nothing like as bad as Pond Street). 

My other reason is that my father was a consultant at Whittington many years ago and the coronary care unit there is named after him (Montuschi Ward).  He would have said that an A & E is essential to a vibrant, living hospital that is at the heart of a community.
Without an A & E a general hospital becomes a large edifice with little connection to the people around it.

On a more personal note, when our daughter Susannah was suspected of having meningitis some years ago the service and care she received in A & E and then on the paediatric ward were second to none.

The hospital was part of my family life and childhood and later, when Walter and I moved from Kentish Town to Highgate, two of our three children were born there.  It feels really important to me that for all it’s shortcomings (and there are very few A & E departments in London that anyone would really choose to attend) Whittington A & E remains available to the people of this very mixed part of North London.