Tag Archives: hornsey central hospital

Hornsey Central Hospital: meeting report

Posted on by

So the people did come. Having put out hundreds of postcards to ramp up public pressure – the people did come.

The Labour government policy on health means that there is only one game in town – a LIFT project, which will require winning bids and selling off land to fund it.

But it’s very risky. There are absolutely no guarantees that we won’t just see the land being sold off, the old hospital building being demolished – but then the bid for funding doesn’t win and we’re left with absolutely sweet FA.

I remain open to listening to anyone who can come up with a viable alternative, but so far there appears to really only be one game in town.

Against that background however, is the genuine commitment of the Primary Care Trust’s team to get this through, the backing and interest from the local commissioning west Haringey doctors. So on balance I would rather put pressure on this to make sure something happens than not.

So what I would like to do is get everyone in the area to support the bid (to be in by the end of September) with a letter-writing lobbying campaign to up the odds of getting the bid for funding. Am currently investigating who best to lobby.

I am also going to try and get to see the new Chief Executive of the London-wide Health Authority to argue for a guarantee that if the land is sold the money comes back to that site. This is against the policy of the Health Trust who say that it will go in a pot and is LIKELY to come back. Likely isn’t good enough for those of us who have campaigned for ever for this. So I will try and get a meeting to ask for a cast iron guarantee and if necessary will campaign for that too.

If we can get the bid and ring-fence the proceeds of any sale then perhaps we can succeed.

This is all dicey. But the fight has to be to get proper health facilities here for us, after years of promises.

Hilary Benn for leader?

Posted on by

Labour’s continuing leadership problems have made me think about who I would pick to succeed Blair. Hilary Benn would be my man. No enemies (that I know of) but more importantly a new sort of leader – one with a genuine manner and devoid of the Blair-style demeanour that is soooooo yesterday. That will be Cameron’s problem – he is emulating a past the country is getting fed up with. Benn could supply an ideal heritage transmuted to fit a modern agenda. Perhaps that way could lie Labour renewal. Perhaps it is not really for me to intrude on private grief – but it certainly is gripping.

More basic, four and a half hours yesterday of surgery, meeting residents individually about their particular issues. It always serves to remind me of the parade of problems and challenges that never seem to lessen. After which I had my regular meeting with Cllr George Meehan, leader of Haringey Council. I had a raft of issues to raise with him:

– an update on CPZs: there will now be a second phase of consultation, where they discount the roads that didn’t want a CPZ and go back and consult with those that did.

– Noel Park Recreation Ground delays – suffice to say that the poor children have had the summer without their play equipment replaced (it was taken away during building work of a new children’s’ centre and not replaced). I had categorical assurances from the Council about finish dates that were never met. Anyway – I now have the update which promises that the work will be finished by the end of the month.

– I raised the issue of the astronomical amounts of money paid in Housing Benefit for temporary accommodation. I have had two recent cases where the tenant has been placed in quite frankly unliveable one bedroom accommodation (with man, wife and child) at a cost of around £400 per week – and this in areas where normally even in the private market you wouldn’t pay more than £200 I reckon. I know there’s a premium because of the supposed short tenure – but inevitably a temporary placement for 20 days turns into months and sometimes year. Factor that up – and the costs are unbelievable. And it keeps the people who are meant to be helped with benefits in poverty as with that high price of rent they often can’t afford a job because they would then lose so much in housing benefits that they wouldn’t be able to afford to carry on paying the rent. There are some moves to make it possible to place tenants in the private sector – but I think this needs looking at. Some landlords are raking it – and it’s not as if they are taking a risk – as the rent is paid by the state!

– business recycling is next on my list. Businesses are largely untouched by recycling – so I have ‘called on’ George to look into it. In fact, as the Council has decided (controversially) to take back recycling under their own auspices – this is an ideal moment to push home the Lib Dem campaign to introduce business recycling into the borough. And while I was at it – I lobbied for bigger recycling boxes (again)!

– I also raised some issues about the Chocolate Factory with him – but more about that later.

– and last, but not least, I have offered (as the Council hasn’t used me yet) to lobby on behalf of the Council at Parliamentary level. As I had flagged this up on the agenda prior to our meeting, George had one ready for me – the cost of asylum seekers to this borough – or more accurately to get the Government to fund the deficit between spend and available government grant. Will do. In a borough like Haringey (and when I talk to colleagues from other parts of the country who rarely see an asylum case – you can see how uneven the destinations are) we happily have more than our share of the asylum seekers who come to London – but we should not have to bear those extra costs and pressures without full Government assistance.

Last meeting of the day is with Richard Sumray about Hornsey Hospital. Once again Richard stated his commitment to the project and the Primary Care Trust of which he is Chair is hosting a public meeting on 13th. I am stirring a campaign to coincide with this with the view to adding pressure and enthusiasm to support a bid for funding. A bid is being prepared – and I think we need to go for it big time. But we will hear the detail publicly next Wednesday.

Hornsey Central Hospital

Posted on by

Steve Lynne Featherstone teamed up with Lib Dem Shadow Health Secrtary Steve Webb and local councillor Richard Wilson to highlight local concerns over the Hornsey Central Hospital siteWebb, LibDem Shadow Health Secretary came to Hornsey & Wood Green yesterday to meet with myself, Lib Dem colleagues and three local residents who are all massively concerned and upset about Hornsey Central Hospital – or more accurately, the lack of anything tangible in its place since it was closed nearly six years ago.

There is a bid being worked up to apply for some government funding from the cottage/community hospital funding the Government is making available to support its rhetoric around wanting more community facilities – though in reality it is doing more about concentrating its funding on acute/secondary care.

I and my colleagues are looking into what the bid will comprise and hope that we will hear more detail at the public meeting being held on the 13th September at 18:00 at the Methodist Church Hall, Middle Lane. (See here for a map).

We are determined to campaign for good facilities. We have been waiting like good children for the promises made in 2000 to be delivered – but no more Mr Nice Guys. We have all worked with the Trust at every stage – but each time it has come to naught. We believe that its Chair, Richard Sumray is committed to providing these much needed health facilities in the west of the Borough. He says he is. We know how difficult the budget process has been and the Government’s push for commissioning private services. But actions speak louder than Labour rhetoric – and we have waited long enough!

We (me plus councillors Richard Wilson and David Winskill) took Steve Webb to Hornsey Hospital and met with some local health campaigners to discuss the best way to take forward the campaign for Hornsey Hospital and the wider issues around the effect of the serious cuts Haringey’s Trust faces. The cuts have already led less sexual health clinics and reductions in rehabilitation beds for older people.

So let’s see what happens on the 13th. Hopefully Richard Sumray will say it’s all going ahead just as local people were promised…

And in the meantime, don’t forget – you can see our film on the issue:

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=2225932933616005261

Hornsey Hospital – watch my film

Posted on by

The future of the Hornsey Central Hospital site has been a long-running campaign of mine. I’ve just released a little online film about the campaign which you can watch:

http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docId=2225932933616005261

It also features Wayne Hoban, who is the Deputy Leader of the Lib Dems in Haringey and our resident expert in many health matters. Thanks to Sheila Rainger (Muswell Hill councillor) for putting it together.

Flowers, veg, library and hospital

Posted on by

Busy,At local allotment's Annual Show busy weekend. Saturday afternoon was the first of what is a very horticultural weekend with giving out the prizes at the Muswell Hill & District Horticultural Society Autumn Show. It was fantastic – such a lovely thing to go and do. A blaze of colour and fine blooms – and given the hottest July on record followed by the August downpours, I was amazed by the quality of the blooms. Not being an expert in these matters and certainly without a green finger to my name I can but be impressed as a spectator – those who tend to garden do us all a great service as we enjoy the fruits of others’ labour as we pass by.

Sunday afternoon was more fruits (literally) and vegetables at the Annual Show of the golf course allotments. So many contributions of fantastic veggies. I now know what makes a good green bean. The first time I looked at the various entries, they all looked much of a muchness to me – green and long. But having enquired what makes a green bean a winning green bean, I now know what details to look for. Having given out the prizes – many, many certificates and many cups and medals – I was given the most beautiful basked of produce from Gina’s allotment – absolutely gorgeous and will eat some tonight. She had even put fresh figs in!

The allotment association had applied for funding from the lottery just recently to get a pretty small amount to put up a new meeting room/shed. However, their bid failed because they were told that they needed to have planning permission (a formality in this case – as it is a replacement not a new building) in advance of their bid application. But Haringey Council hadn’t told them this. Apparently, one of the organisers told me, Haringey hasn’t given the allotments any money whatsoever in the last 15 years – and yet Haringey Council is raising the annual rental by 50% over two years. I have no doubt that the planning permission will be granted and I will certainly help them with their new application that will then follow.

Allotments are just the most wonderful breathing space for those without gardens. True oases of peace and quiet. There are something like 16 allotment sites in Haringey and 1,600 plots. There is a very long waiting list – and happily I think even Haringey Council understands that these oases are sacrosanct.

This morning, reading the endless column inches of Blair-Brown bitching, I am actually horrified by the Labour party’s seeming desire to self-destruct. Blair has been the single reason they won three elections. He has said he will go. Cameron is not very special other than he is clearly a good PR practitioner – but the Labour party’s disarray allows him more leeway than he deserves. They are still the Nasty Party and it will take a lot more than hot air (or conversion to recognition of the threat of climate change) to convince me that the leopard has changed its spots.

Blair was wrong to go to war in Iraq illegally, and he is dangerously cavalier with civil liberties and human rights – but Labour MPs who think that getting rid of him and installing Gordon will help them in the next election are wrong.

On a more local tack – there are two important local meetings coming up on issues I’ve been working on with my councillor LibDem colleagues.

Firstly, there are plans on the table to update Muswell Hill Library. The library is a well-used and well-loved local library, at the centre of our community. Upstairs the busy Children’s Library jostles for space with the IT suite, connecting people who don’t own a home computer to all the opportunities of the internet. The Toy Library supports local families with toys, games, advice and support. And twice a month the library even hosts Lib Dem councillors’ surgeries!

Of course the building needs updating. A key priority is access for people with limited mobility. And, sadly, the wonderful Grade II listed features have been allowed to fall into disrepair.

But many people were shocked and surprised to learn that Haringey’s Labour Council want to replace the ground floor with a restaurant, and move the library facilities out into an extension. In order to fund this, the Council plans to sell off land at the rear of the library, which currently provides parking to hard-pressed residents of Avenue Mews. Some of the land will be used to create a Community Garden – but there is no indication of how big this might be.

The local Lib Dem councillors and I have been pressing the Council to release a full breakdown of the costs of this proposal, and to provide more detailed plans with better information about the size of key areas such as the adult library, the Toy Library and the IT facilities. This information has yet to be provided.

The next public meeting to discuss these plans will be held in the Library this coming Wednesday, 6 September at 7pm. I hope lots of people attend.

The following Wednesday (13th September) there is to be a public meeting on the “development of local health services at the Hornsey Central Hospital site” between 6pm and 8pm at the Middle Lane Methodist Church, Middle Lane, Crouch End. (See here for a map).

I have been campaigning along with local residents and the Friends of Hornsey Central Hospital since the hospital was closed in 2001 to ensure that local health services are re-provided on this site.

It is six years since we were promised that if we (local residents, the Friends of Hornsey Hospital and Lib Dem campaigners) stopped our campaign to save the hospital – then the Trust would work together on consultation with us to a create new health facility for the community. So we worked with the Trust. There were public meetings and plans and public meetings and working meetings and lots of commitment – even complete planning permission at one stage. But after six years – we are nowhere.

And that’s just for starters … so I really am back in the swing of things again!

Hornsey Central Hospital

Posted on by

Off to the Three Compasses (my HQ) for a council of war on what is happening to health in this borough. The cuts are cutting now deeply. Five family planning units gone or going for example. The X-ray unit at St Ann’s saved – but many, many other front line services disappearing. And why? Because of this Labour government’s lack of understanding about how best to run the health service. They have flung a fortune at the health service – most of which has gone into poorly negotiated doctor and consultant contracts. Their budgeting regime has meant that if a Trust balances its budget (much of which is achieved by cuts) then the following year it must make more ‘efficiency savings’ so that it can give its ‘surplus’ to a Trust that has failed to keep to budget. It is theatre of the absurd. It demotivates the good Trusts and rewards the ‘bad’. Except that the ‘bad’ are those Trusts that ‘overspend’ – but overspending means that they are trying to meet need in the community where elsewhere they are cutting front line services – as here.

Amongst other things, we are meeting to kick off the arrangements for the campaign to force the pace on the progress (or lack of it) on Hornsey Hospital. After the meeting we go off to Hornsey Hospital to set up the campaign shots. It looks so forlorn these days with its closure notices. It is six years since we were promised that if we (residents and Lib Dem politicians) stopped our campaign to save the hospital – then the Trust would together with us to a create new health facility for the community. So we worked with the PCT. There were public meetings and plans and public meetings and working meetings and lots of commitment – even complete planning permission at one stage. But after six years – we are nowhere.

… and on a technical note (highlight of my week this!) I’ve added links to each post so you can easily post them on del.icio.us / digit. Thanks to Technology Wrap for the tip on how to do it easily.

New Year message

Posted on by

2005 was a bit of a year – and then some.

As I look back over the year – I am thrilled with what we have been able to achieve. No – not just the General Election (clearly a stunning victory turning a Labour majority of 10,514 into a LibDem one of 2,395) but the causes and campaigns I and my LibDem colleagues have championed together with local residents. That’s what has made the difference in Hornsey & Wood Green.

Current battles ongoing perhaps sum up some of what I am trying to do in the constituency – which all boil down to making it a better place for local people to work, rest and play – to quote a famous old advertising tag line. I don’t think aiming for a clean, pleasant and safe environment is asking too much!

I’ll start with the Hornsey concrete factory planning application. London Concrete want to plonk a concrete batching plant on Cranford Way – right bang in the middle of a residential area – with schools and children and narrow streets – just the sort of place for over 300 HGVs per week to wreck the local ambience! I and my LibDem colleagues have been campaigning against this application since the moment it was lodged – together with great local group Green N8.

We passed the first hurdle with Haringey Planning Committee refusing the application – but in the way of the world – the developer has appealed and as I write we are in the middle of the hearings by Her Majesty’s Inspector to whom I gave ‘evidence’ the week before Christmas. You can read the evidence on my earlier blog posting about the concrete factory plans.

I invited both John Prescott and Ken Livingstone to see the evil that would be done. Neither accepted my invitation. Holding baited breath now and crossed fingers – this David and Goliath battle will be settled by the end of January.

Another battle that engages me is the fight against sitting mobile telephone masts near vulnerable people – like young children. The idea is to bring forward legislation that would enable local councils to refuse planning permission on the grounds of the precautionary principle – until such time as we have proof positive of what these masts do or do not do to our health. This doesn’t just happen in Hornsey & Wood Green but up and down the land. And of course, we all do use mobile phones, so we can’t be overly pure. The Government is still proclaiming that there is no evidence of damage to health. I have challenged the Government through Parliamentary channels to do the scientific studies necessary to look at the incidence of cancer around mobile phone masts in situ for 10 years – without which we are all in anecdotal territory. They haven’t responded as yet.

Locally, of course, we occasionally succeed and see off a phone mast application – but they relentlessly return nearby or at the same site but from a different company. Good news though – recently in a statement by the local Head of Planning in regard to refusing a particular mast in Fortis Green, he went as far as to say ALL future applications for mobile masts in the Haringey conservation area will be an outright NO from now on! Watch this space.

I am also still keeping up the pressure on Haringey Primary Care Trust (PCT) over the future of the Hornsey Central Hospital site. Following a long campaign against closure of the old hospital and then a long process of working with local residents and other interested parties – proposals for a new health facility finally came forth from the PCT for a mix of local health services and elderly care. However, dogged by funding problems caused by the withdrawal from renting some of the space by the Health Trust etc delays and fears about its future have crept in. So I recently met yet again with the Chair of the PCT and received personal assurances from him of his commitment to ensuring that the project goes ahead. But there must remain, until the public meeting in the New Year that he has promised me, concerns over what of the original promised facilities will actually proceed and get built.

As for policing – Safer Neighbourhood Teams are what we all want. They are what we have always wanted. But whilst London is promised complete roll-out in the next year – some ‘neighbourhoods’ are being left out. I have long campaigned to get a team into Highgate – and at last am encouraged that we are on our way to success. Highgate is split between three different boroughs. Now no police commander I know – despite their protestations about cross-border working – is willing to commit him or herself to an actual cross-border Safer Neighbourhood Team. So I have brought this to the Metropolitan Police Authority on several occasions. And am helped in my quest by Crystal Palace – ironically. Crystal Palace is split between five areas – and so the MPA are running a pilot there which if successful will be applied to neighbourhoods like Highgate which suffer from divided ownership. The sooner the better!

So – with obviously lots more going on than I can possibly begin to convey in this message – not to mention the fight of our lives against Labour’s attack on the fundamental principles of liberty and justice in our land – I look forward to a challenging and pretty energetic year ahead.

A very Happy New Year to you all!

Hornsey Central Hospital

Posted on by

Early morning meeting with Richard Sumray, Chair of Haringey Primary Care Trust (PCT). I have asked him to come and update me on the proposed development of Hornsey Central Hospital. It is now years since I joined local campaigners to campaign against the closure of the old hospital and then with local campaigners to ensure that a community health facility replaced what was lost.

Richard had been hoping to have a public meeting in December but this is now delayed until January because the relevant policy paper has not yet gone to the trust’s Board and won’t do now until January. The proposed scheme – the Primary Care Resource Centre, the Healthy Living centre and other health functions yet to be decided by the practitioners – is still on but there are still some big stumbling blocks remaining before the project can proceed. The second floor of the 2nd Stage, which was to provide offices, hit a dead end when it became clear that the costs were too high. The Strategic Health Trust rejected the project as it was thought to be unaffordable. Since then Richard Sumray and the Board have been re-examining the whole project for ways of making it more affordable and therefore viable.

The redevelopment is being funded through the Government’s LIFT scheme, which means involving a private partner. The PCT consulted their private partner over the idea that the private partner take on the risk of the top floor – developing it for themselves. This would theoretically make it financially feasible, and mean that there were no major changes to the amount of health services to be provided. However, there are risks. The PCT is pretty desperate to get the plans for Hornsey Hospital finished and through by March, because otherwise they will be left with a large financial deficit at the start of the next financial year. But because of the huge level of bureaucracy involved in LIFT schemes it is even money as to whether they will make it.

In the afternoon I am see an ‘informant’. Since my days on the Met Police Authority (MPA) I have been pursuing the use of DNA in the search for an abhorrent rapist. The crimes – against old women – are an abomination and have been going on for around ten years with no success by the police in capturing the criminal.

However, in recent years the police have been trawling the black community for ‘voluntary’ DNA samples. These samples have not, in my view, been voluntary at all. 125 refusniks received an intimidatory letter from a senior detective saying that he was going to look into their reasons for refusal and then let them know of his decision. Well – if it was voluntary – no need to look into anything or decide anything. Furthermore, five of those written to continued to refuse and in the end were arrested. Two gave in at that point, and the remaining three arrested had their DNA taken – as once arrested it is compulsory.

It is so easy to say end justifies means. It is easy to see the argument that this crime is so horrific that it is right to take DNA voluntarily or otherwise. Don’t get me wrong. The police are doing a great job. But it is a complete misnomer to call this type of testing ‘voluntary’. It is clearly mandatory in practice. And if mandatory DNA testing is happening, that should only be after a proper debate results in a decision to change the rules – we shouldn’t get mandatory testing introduced by the back door. Balancing civil rights, personal freedoms and the fight against crime are tricky – which is all the more reasons why such decisions should not happen on the quiet and without proper public debate.

Since then the trail had gone somewhat cold – for me. The police still hadn’t caught the culprit. Then I got an email from someone who only recently was pulled in to give a sample on a spurious excuse and refused. He said he couldn’t put it all in an email – so today he came into see me. And he had quite a tale to tell. Needless to say – I will be pursuing this as soon as I have put together an appropriate strategy to so do. It was extremely disheartening to hear some of the treatment he encountered.

Ironically, I then dash over to Earls Court for the Met Police Authority’s Christmas do! Very nice to see everyone again. I do miss the MPA – however being LibDem spokesperson on Police, Crime and Disorder and Prisons at least keeps me in the right portfolio.

Who is Gordon Brown?

Posted on by

Have a meeting at the pub (my constituency office is in the rooms upstairs of the Three Compasses pub). Sometimes I hold small one-to-one meetings downstairs in the pub itself – particularly in the morning when it is quiet before the lunchtime rush. The atmosphere is fabulously relaxing and I buy coffee or whatever and we sit on comfy sofas or chairs – and you get a lot more out of people in that way.

This meeting was particularly useful as the previous Monday, Mark Oaten (who is LibDem Shadow Home Secretary) had added prisons to my brief and I was about to visit Holloway Prison this coming Wednesday. So Lucy Russell, Director of Smart Justice, had come to lobby me about women prisoner’ issues – which was very fortuitous.

What struck me was how desperately disproportionate the consequences of prison often are for women and their family. To elucidate – punishment has an important role to play in society not just to keep the public safe but to be the price paid for unlawful behaviour. However, the majority of women serve less than six months. Going to prison more often than not means children in care or at the very least disturbed from their home; quite often loss of home and so on. So when you look at the total impact of the sentence, it’s much more than just the sentence itself. That needs to be remembered and dealt with.

Muswell Hill and Highgate Area Assembly in the evening. Not particularly well-attended and I swear I know virtually everyone there. The problem remains how to get ‘real’ people in greater numbers – at times other than when there is a CPZ proposal on the agenda when there is no shortage of attendees.

Tonight it would have been very useful if the council had made more effort to publicize the meeting as it was the opportunity for local residents to choose projects to fund from the local assembly’s budget. All the nominations were up on the wall and each resident in attendance got six green dot stickers to stick up. But lots of really great small projects nominated by various locals – and not really enough of the local residents there to indicate their preferences from which the local councillors then decide.

The main topics however were the future of Park Road Pool and trees. Good news-ish on the pool – it does have a future. Over the next few years lots of improvements promised and the community will still be able to use a room for local activities. Sounds good, but this being Haringey – we’ll see. They had done no work whatsoever on public transport for the venue – simply indicated that they were trying to expand the car park. That is fine (to a degree) but you do need to be able to get there by bus and there is only a very limited service since they removed the W2. Also – they had had no talks with Hornsey Central Hospital – who are just along the road and following my questions on this, work is going ahead on the site in the New Year.

The other main event of the day was watching Gordon Brown deliver his succession speech at the Labour conference. I was under-whelmed. I don’t think it is going to happen soon and I don’t think it is going to do Labour much good in the long run if he does succeed. He doesn’t know which way to play it – New or Old! In reality he has been relentlessly New Labour – so no idea why the ‘left’ think he may be their saviour. Who signed the cheques for the Iraq war? Who forced through part-privatisation of the Tube? Who insisted on top-up fees for students? And on and on.

Therein is the problem – who really is Gordon Brown?

Hornsey Central Hospital site

Posted on by

Visit the Mental Health Trust on the St Ann’s Hospital site. Haringey has the longest inpatient stays in London but it does a very low re-admission rate compared to other authorities. So – what I take from that is that the Government needs to be very careful about its push to shove people out of in-patient facilities towards care in the community. While I am sure that being at home and not institutionalised is a laudable t aim, if the patient isn’t ready and the support networks are not adequate then we will see more and more problems on street or left for the police to deal with.

The other issue that struck me was the number (and cost) of secure beds that we pay for and that extraordinary numbers of people with mental health problems who end up in prison (also expensive) as opposed to getting preventative care prior to getting hospitalised or imprisoned. This resonates with my experience of warning after warning to the council or police that a local person is threatening neighbours etc. The authorities are always saying they cannot do anything until something happens. Eventually, the person assaults someone. Then they are put in prison and/or evicted. When they come out – they are found accommodation (if they are lucky) and the whole cycle starts all over again with new neighbours.

So – more early intervention and prevention needed. Otherwise we are just going to be creating more arrests, more problems, more misery.

I also have an appointment with the Primary Care Trust (PCT). Main issue on the agenda for me is the news (known for some time but not released to us mere mortals) that the future plans for the redevelopment of the Hornsey Central site are in jeopardy. Haringey Council has pulled the plug on their part of the proposals for the site and has, in the most ad hoc of fashions, decided not to proceed with the care home facilities. This leaves the PCT up the creek as they need the funding from that to fund the other community health services to be offered.

They have come up with a possible way of funding it. I’m not supposed to say publicly what it is yet (though can’t quite see why) – it is quite controversial and supposedly ‘commercially sensitive’. I think they need to be bolder and work with the community on this funding problem.

Local campaigners, myself and others have been at this for years and years. We campaigned against closure originally. Continued through the wilderness years. But when the PCT was set up relations improved with campaigners. Now Haringey Council has jeopardised all of this by pulling the rug out.

The PCT was planning to present the options to their board in September. I suggested to them that rather than go to the board and then to a public meeting thereafter when their possibly controversial proposals were a ‘fait accompli’ it would be much better to share with the key stakeholders the challenges they faced and the options available and then go to a public meeting to genuinely consult. The acting Chief Exec, Geoff Sandford, said he would give that suggestion serious consideration. I hope he does!