Residents march against hospital proposals (From News Shopper)

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Residents march against hospital proposals

10:30am Tuesday 1st April 2008

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By Matthew Jenkin »

ANGRY residents have been on the march to protest against plans to change hospital services.

More than 200 protestors met at All Saints Church, All Saints Drive, Blackheath, at 11am on Saturday and marched to Lewisham Hospital, in Lewisham High Street.

The march, organised by the pensioners' forums of Greenwich and Lewisham, was against the A Picture of Health proposals for hospital services in south-east London.

Harbhajan Singh, the secretary of the Greenwich forum, said: "The march was attended by a range of ages, not just the elderly, and it was really wonderful and inspiring to see."

A Picture Of Health is offering three options for the future of healthcare services in the area.

They all include the downgrading of Queen Mary's Hospital, Sidcup, and the concentration of A&E services at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich and the Princess Royal University Hospital, in Farnborough.

The plans could also mean Lew- isham Hospital might lose its A&E, specialist maternity and children's departments.

Patients needing these services would be forced to travel to other hospitals which offer them. This would include the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

Mr Singh added: "Patients in Greenwich will have a very rough time because of the number of people coming from other places."

A Queen Elizabeth Hospital spokesman confirmed its A&E department is very busy, but said: "Queen Elizabeth Hospital will change the way it works as part of the plan.

"Some services will move away from Queen Elizabeth Hospital, so this will free up capacity."

Lewisham Council has already pledged its support for the campaign against the A Picture of Health proposals.

Lewisham East MP Bridget Prentice and Lewisham West MP Jim Dowd attended the march on Saturday.

However, members of Greenwich Council have been criticised for not responding to the A Picture of Health proposals.

Councillor Spencer Drury, the leader of the Conservative opposition in Greenwich, said: "This lack of response really matters.

"On the vital proposals by agencies covering crime, health and post offices, they have said nothing at all.

"Even when they have responded, they appear to have written their response in private and refused to make it public."

A Greenwich Council spokesman said: "The council has already made its position very clear, at a full council meeting last week, that it does not intend to pre-judge the consultation.

"The all-party cross-borough scrutiny committee of councillors will meet again tomorrow evening when it will receive important evidence from the Royal College of Nursing and the Royal College of Midwives. We note there are further public meetings to take place. We will respond to the Picture of Health paper in due course."

A public consultation on A Picture of Health began on January 7 and finishes on April 11.

Consultation documents, including a questionnaire, were delivered to households in Greenwich, Lewisham, Bexley, Bromley, and some parts of West Kent and Southwark.

A Picture of Health spokesman said people should take part in the consultation.

He said: "We hope people put something in writing because having a march isn't something we can put in an envelope.

"People have a perfect right to do whatever they like, but if they really want to register their views it is imperative they put it in writing by taking part in the consultation."

For further information on how to take part in the consultation, visit the website at apictureofhealth.nhs.uk

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Councillor Mark Morris, Catford says...
4:09pm Tue 1 Apr 08

You article states that Jim Dowd MP attended the march. Well he just did, as he joined it rather late as indeed Labour Mayor of Lewisham Council Steve Bullock who only joined the march at the very end. Sadly the article failed to mention that the march was supported by the Liberal Democrat London Mayoral Candidate Brian Paddick (who unlike Jim Dowd and Steve Bullock managed to join the march at the start!). Where was Boris Johnson or Ken Livinstone?

However even more signifcantly the article does not mention that the whole re-organisation of the health service is being centrally driven by the current Labour Government. For a Labour Government Minister Minister (Bridget Prentice) and other Labour politicians to campaign against these proposals locally, but then supporting the people who are driving these proposals forward at the centre is simply hyprocrical. It really is like the approach Labour MPs are taking over Post Office closures - where they say they oppose them locally, but it is their policies which are actually forcing the closures.

What is being proposed in relation to Lewisham hospital is an absolute outrage and I really do hope as many as people as possible respond to the formal consultation before the 7th April.

Lewisham Hospital has an incredibly busy A&E - it must remain, as must other vital services such as the maternity unit.

Those driving forward the proposals seem to have shown no consideration to the rapid changes in population in Lewisham. With the go ahead for the Lewisham Gateway and with other big developments in the borough such as Convoys Wharf, the population is set to increase quite considerably. Travelling to other hospital sites will also be very difficult for many people living in the Lewisham area - as car ownership is much lower than other areas.

The proposals being foward also seem to be based on 1980s mindset where no consideration is given to traffic and environmental issues. Forcing people to attend hospitals further away is not how Lewisham residents should be treated, many of which are not car owners. Forcing people to make longer journeys to go to hospital is also bad for the environment - the carbon footprint of some of the proposals would be staggering. The last thing South East London needs is thousands of people forced to make far longer car journeys to attend hospital or to visit a relative.

Councillor Mark Morris
Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, London Borough of Lewisham

You article states that Jim Dowd MP attended the march. Well he just did, as he joined it rather late as indeed Labour Mayor of Lewisham Council Steve Bullock who only joined the march at the very end. Sadly the article failed to mention that the march was supported by the Liberal Democrat London Mayoral Candidate Brian Paddick (who unlike Jim Dowd and Steve Bullock managed to join the march at the start!). Where was Boris Johnson or Ken Livinstone? However even more signifcantly the article does not mention that the whole re-organisation of the health service is being centrally driven by the current Labour Government. For a Labour Government Minister Minister (Bridget Prentice) and other Labour politicians to campaign against these proposals locally, but then supporting the people who are driving these proposals forward at the centre is simply hyprocrical. It really is like the approach Labour MPs are taking over Post Office closures - where they say they oppose them locally, but it is their policies which are actually forcing the closures. What is being proposed in relation to Lewisham hospital is an absolute outrage and I really do hope as many as people as possible respond to the formal consultation before the 7th April. Lewisham Hospital has an incredibly busy A&E - it must remain, as must other vital services such as the maternity unit. Those driving forward the proposals seem to have shown no consideration to the rapid changes in population in Lewisham. With the go ahead for the Lewisham Gateway and with other big developments in the borough such as Convoys Wharf, the population is set to increase quite considerably. Travelling to other hospital sites will also be very difficult for many people living in the Lewisham area - as car ownership is much lower than other areas. The proposals being foward also seem to be based on 1980s mindset where no consideration is given to traffic and environmental issues. Forcing people to attend hospitals further away is not how Lewisham residents should be treated, many of which are not car owners. Forcing people to make longer journeys to go to hospital is also bad for the environment - the carbon footprint of some of the proposals would be staggering. The last thing South East London needs is thousands of people forced to make far longer car journeys to attend hospital or to visit a relative. Councillor Mark Morris Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group, London Borough of Lewisham

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Jamie Milne, Hither Green says...
10:01am Wed 2 Apr 08

Isn't it a shame that someone had to immediately make this party political? The great thing about the march was that people of all sorts of political views, and of none, were able to join together in a community campaign against the 'Picture of Health' proposals.

Thanks to the comments from Cllr Morris, we now know that the Liberal Democrats are more interested in point scoring than saving services at Lewisham Hospital.

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John, Catford says...
10:52am Wed 2 Apr 08

But these cuts are as a result of PFI debts, and the funding of hospitals through PFI is government policy. And she is a minister in the New Labour government, and needs to be held to account for her hypocritical actions.

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L, says...
7:40pm Wed 2 Apr 08

John wrote:
But these cuts are as a result of PFI debts, and the funding of hospitals through PFI is government policy. And she is a minister in the New Labour government, and needs to be held to account for her hypocritical actions.

Partly true, the real reason that Lewisham and Queen Mary's are up for closure or part closure is because QM is not a PFI build and so no money owed and Lewisham is only a partial PFI and has turned itself round financially and has no debt. Queen Elizabeth and PRUH are totally PFI funded builds and so too expensive to close. Never mind the expense that will be incurred in redeployment of staff and services and potentially poorer services.

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