Tag Archives: whittington hospital

Whittington A&E march and rally

Posted on by

Save our A&E! Save our A&E! Save our maternity!

So rang out the chants on the march to save the Whittington A&E this morning. The rain kept mainly on the plain – thank goodness – and we marched and chanted all the way from Highbury and Islington Tube to the Whittington – where we had a huge rally.

Big thanks to the Defend the Whittington Coalition – who organised the whole caboodle – and it takes some organisation – with having Holloway Road closed off in one direction, the Whittington main entrance closed during the rally and, lovely surprise, a jazz band played all the way. The Whittington Stray Cats – I believe they said they were called.

Of course – the key issue is how do we get those making the decision to withdraw any of the proposals that they say we will be consulted on next autumn that close the Whittington A&E? For currently – out of the seven draft proposals – four end 24/7 A&E.

This is a nightmare – where the Government is calling the ultimate shots – but hiding behind its quango servants to do the dirty work.

I have organised a public meeting on March 4, 8pm at Greig Academy (entrance to assembly hall in Hillfield Avenue off High Street Hornsey. The Chair of the Review panel, Rachel Tyndall,  (putting forward the proposals) and Richard Sumray – Chair of Haringey PCT will both be there to take questions from local people.

Please come and make the case – loud and clear – for all the reasons we users know. It is clear insanity to close this vital local service.

Whittington A&E: LibDems would give Power to the People

Posted on by

The Ham & High just organised a photo-op outside the Whittington in advance of the march on Saturday (Highbury & Islington corner at noon) so that they can give it advance publicity. Well – done Ham & High!

The key in all of this – is where the power and the decisions lie – and sadly – it isn’t with the people. If it was – we wouldn’t be in this postion to start with. We are at the mercy of high paid, managers and bureaucrats moving around services on paper – without any understanding of our wishes or our needs – nor any mandate from us.

As for the Labour Government – they say it’s a local matter. There is nowhere for us to hold the decision makers to account that has real teeth. Whatever they decide – they won’t lose their jobs and they don’t have to face an electorate.

If Liberal Democrats were in charge (and after the election we may be) we would put power back in the hands of the people. No longer would we be in this untenable and unacceptable and position – where we petition and beg for what we want to unaccountable quangos.

Everyone I talk to says the same thing: this is madness – but how do we stop it? We fight, we march, we meet and we protest – but in the end – if we the people had the power, if our health boards were elected and accountable as they will be under a LibDem administration – the Whittington would be perfectly safe in our hands!

Power to the people!

Whittington Hospital: come to public meeting with key decision makers from the NHS

Posted on by

(Also on YouTube here)

It is clear from the overwhelming response to the campaign and petition that local people want the Whittington A & E to remain and remain 24/7. In fact – most people can’t believe closure is even being proposed – as to anyone locally this is madness.

But the fight doesn’t stop at a petition. On the 4th March, I have arranged a public meeting, where local residents will get the chance to hear at first hand, what the hospital bosses have to say about the threat to the A&E. To represent the NHS, I have invited Rachel Tyndall, Chair of the North Central London (NCL) review panel, the body that has put forward the proposals to close the Whittington A&E, and Richard Sumray, who is chair of Haringey Primary Care Trust.

This will also be an opportunity for you to ask questions – directly to the powers that be. And I want you to be there. If we can show just how strong local feelings are about this threat, I think we might have a chance of stopping them. We now know from the latest document that there are seven draft ‘options’ for the future of the Whittington. Four out of the seven show an end to 24/7 A&E at the Whittington.

The meeting will take place as follows:

Thursday the 4th March from 8 pm, Greig City Academy, Hornsey, N8 7NU.

To access the assembly hall where the meeting will be held, please use the entrance from Hillfield Avenue and follow the signs. If you have any questions, just call my office on 020 8340 5459.

Lastly, I also wanted to mention that I am marching, with my fellow Liberal Democrat colleagues, in protest against the potential closure on Saturday the 27th February. The march, organised by Defend the Whittington coalition, will start at Highbury Fields at 12 noon and to the Whittington Hospital.

Do come along and show your support – if you want to find more details on the march, please go to: http://dwhc.org.uk/.

Thanks again for the support you have shown for our campaign, and please help spread the word about the threat to our A&E – together we can fight this!

Local MP to host public meeting on the future of the Whittington A&E

Posted on by

To give local residents the chance to hear directly from hospital bosses about the threat to the Whittington’s A&E, Lynne Featherstone MP will be hosting a public meeting on the issue on Thursday 4 March, at Greig City Academy, High Street, Hornsey, N8 7NU:

The meeting, which will run from 8 pm, will give local residents the chance to question Rachel Tyndall, Chair of the North Central London Review Panel, the organisation that has put forward the suggestion to close the Whittington A&E, and Richard Sumray, who is Chair of NHS Haringey.

Lynne Featherstone will also lead a group of Liberal Democrats who are marching from Highbury Fields in Islington, to Whittington Hospital on Saturday 27 February from 12 noon, to protest against the threat to the Archway emergency department, and encourages local residents to come along and show their support for the campaign.

Lynne Featherstone MP comments:

“Local residents need to get a chance to put their concerns about the future of our A&E directly to the people in charge. And the hospital bosses need to hear how strongly we feel about these threats.

“So please come along both to the march on the 27th, and to the meeting on the 4th March. Join us and make your voice heard – together we can fight this!”

Note: The meeting will be in the school’s assembly hall and access to the hall is from Hillfield Avenue.

Whittington A&E

Posted on by

Here’s my latest column for the Muswell Hill Flyer and the Highgate Handbook:

I sent out an email to my special email list to ask for people’s personal stories of when the Whittington Accident & Emergency had been important in their lives – and got a phenomenal response. (If you want to be on this list just email lynne@lynnefeatherstone.org and say so).

I will be presenting these to all the members of all the boards of all the layers of NHS decision makers who are working out our future health services (and there are many of them) and to the government in due course – to try and remind them that this about people’s lives – and that we are not just pawns on some management chessboard.

The clue is in the title of the service – ‘emergency’ – and some of the stories tell how the ambulance man or woman has said we must go to the nearest hospital because x won’t make it if we don’t – every second counts.

Now every resident of Muswell Hill and Highgate who has contacted me about this is quite clear about the importance of having a full 24/7 A&E locally. Distance matters both for saving lives but also for ease of access. And quite frankly the Whittington is far better placed for public transport than the Royal Free for us.

The decision makers are arguing that distance isn’t always important and that extra GP hours, NHS Direct and pharmacies can be a viable alternative. But no amount of extra GP hours or even an urgent care centre (which is one of their alternative suggestions) can replace a full A&E service. This is insanity being wrapped up and sold to us under the guise of ‘better clinical outcomes’. Yes – there are people who use A&E who don’t need to – but taking away A&E isn’t the answer – adding a GP walk-in where those people could be diverted to – could be.

If our A&E goes – as sure as night follows day – we will also lose obstetrics and the Intensive Care Unit. There will be no emergency take from GPs and it will compromise the teaching of medical students at the Whittington.

As for the funding, I put it directly to the Minister, Mike O’Brien, in an Adjournment Debate on the Whittington, that there is a fear that this is about cuts and budgets. The Minister assured me, on the record, that there would be no ‘slash and burn’ solutions and that all of this was about better clinical outcomes.

Well – for all those stories where people would have died if there had not been an A&E at the Whittington – seems to me being alive is a pretty good clinical outcome.

Whittington A&E threatened closure – Protest March – 12 noon 27 Feb

Posted on by

Managed to get to the meeting of the Defend the Whittington Coalition last night. The key issues being decided were the route of the march, the speakers, the publicity, banners, placards and so on. Credit to the organisers – as it is a lot of work to get this together.

We all need to take part in this protest. Given that the ‘options’ for the future of A&E at the Whittington currently (in their draft form) contain four options out of seven that end 24/7 A&E – we need to demonstrate just how much anger there is amongst local people.

So – demonstrate we will. I will post final times and locations for the various stages of the march and rally as soon as I have them.

Whittington A&E: 4 out of 7 scenarios end 24/7 service

Posted on by

Full credit to Rachel Tyndall (Chair of the North London Central Review Panel) for sending me the NCL Strategy Plan for our local health services. I had heard that these had been submitted to NHS London and asked for a copy – and it was given to me virtually immediately. I have circulated the document for information.

The content is of concern. First let me say – this is a long, technical document – in which the arguments are laid out for the configuration of health services across five boroughs and between five hospitals: Barnet, Royal Free, North Mids, UCLH and the Whittington. Ms Tyndall has said that a more accessible version for public consumption will be provided in due course.

In the appendix, are laid out, seven ‘scenarios’. This is where the fight to Save the Whittington A&E will come – if these are the ‘options’ that come for public consultation next autumn.

The seven ‘scenarios’  demonstrate different configurations between the five hospitals as to what services will be provided from each hospital. It is about a total provision – obviously – not just A&E. Suffice to say that four out of the seven ‘scenarios’ show an end to 24/7 A&E at the Whittington. Three show retention of 24/7 A&E.

Interestingly two of the ‘scenarios’ show a reduction to 16 hours A&E – however – from the minutes of the Board Meeting of the Council of Governors of the Whittington it is quite clear that the the 16 hour A&E is not a real option. The actual wording from the minutes of the meeting of the Council of Governors of the Whittington reads (and I quote directly):

Very importantly NCL and the Whittington have ruled out an option where the Whittington has an A&E with reduced opening time eg 16hours per day. This leaves options where either the full 24 hour A&E is retained or there is no A&E at all. The Whittington might then have an urgent care centre.

So – I don’t know why NCL have included two options showing a 16 hour A&E as clearly that has already been ruled out. This makes me wonder if options have been put in that are not really and truly under consideration but are there to make two of the options look better than they are – as they seem to offer some A&E rather than none. I will seek clarification on this seemingly conflicting evidence.

The greater problem for all of us fighting to save the Whittington A&E – is that as long as there are any ‘scenarios’ that don’t retain 24 hour A&E – we are in jeopardy. So – we need the public consultation next autumn to simply ask those who use the Whittington whether we want to retain the 24 A&E service or whether we would prefer the alternative range of provision at the polyclinic, GP extra hours, urgent care centre etc favoured by NCL and the Trusts.

Anything else opens the way to closure of A&E at the Whittington.

At this point – it is a battle to make sure whatever options finally come forward for consultation- that if local people want to retain a 24 hour A&E at the Whittington – it is retained!

The Whittington says yes!

Posted on by

No – this isn’t about the A&E – I wish they said yes to that too. No – this is my visit to the Whittington with members of the Haringey Phoenix Group who work with blind and visually impaired people in Haringey.

Have you ever thought about this – you get the results to your tests for cancer – and because it is in print – you can’t read it and have to ask a neighbour to help. Can you imagine how dreadful it must be to have to bring someone else into what is a private matter. Of course – you may be lucky and have a partner or friend who you are happy to see your most intimate correspondence – but there are times when this just isn’t appropriate. Or the letter might be about an appointment – and you don’t get to see it or know about it until too late. And quite frankly – it should be a basic right in a civilised society to receive medical information in a form that is accessible to those who are blind or visually impaired.

Well – actually it is a right – in legislation! The Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and the Equality Duty of 2006 say this should be the case – but the actuality just isn’t happening. Partly this is because patients don’t ask – and partly because hospitals and GPs don’t offer or aren’t set up to deliver.

Hence my visit with the wonderful Haringey Phoenix Group. We met with Kate Slemeck and two other Whittington officials to discuss how we could arrive at a situation where asking wasn’t necessary because the IT system flagged up both that the patient was visually impaired but also what type of communication results, appointments – any communication – should be in. This could be anything from braille, to large print format (different point sizes for different degrees of impairment), audio tapes, etc.  Then automatically – all communication would be in that format. This is part of a campaign by the RNIB to convert the right in law – to the reality on the ground.

Three cheers for the Whittington – who embraced this and said they could see no reason why not – and were prepared to run a pilot. This would be a real breakthrough and the Whittington would be the first hospital to trial and hopefully become a beacon for provision of communication in appropriate format.

Of course – there’s a bit of a way to go – but they were welcoming, said that their IT system could flag this information up as we suggested. The next stage is to get GPs to ensure that this information – that the patient is visually impaired and identify the format required – so that it can be put onto the hospital system. And of course – it needs to be on the GP system – and all blind and visually impaired people need to make sure that the GP does this and so on.

So next step is to get Haringey PCT to write to all the GPs locally asking them to make sure that both on their own system and when they refere patients to the Whittington – it is made clear that this information has to be entered for flagging and so on.

I am assuming that the PCT will be delighted and willing to do so. I cannot imagine any reason why not – and this is the sort of small change that will make a huge difference.

Three cheers for the Whittington!