NHS and health

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Maybe as many as or even more than 10,000 people marched on 24 November through central Lewisham to stop the closure of the A&E, maternity and other departments at the local hospital. Click here to download model motion to support the Lewisham Hospital campaign Click here to download NHS Unity Network newsletter about the Lewisham Hospital campaign The biggest demonstration Lewisham has seen since the "Battle for New Cross" in 1977 and one of the biggest in the UK against local NHS cuts for many years. This was very much a demonstration of the local community but will have drawn in people from...

On 24 November demonstrators against the cuts at Lewisham Hospital will assemble at 2pm at Loampit Vale roundabout, next to Lewisham DLR and rail station, and march to the hospital. Accident and Emergency, maternity, and complex and emergency surgery services at the hospital are set for closure under plans to break up the South London Healthcare Trust, which earlier this year went bust because of its spending on expensive PFI contracts. A public protest meeting on 8 November drew maybe a thousand people, and the march is expected to be one of the largest ever against local hospital cuts...

Rank-and-file civil servants are taking part in walkouts and protests on 14 November. This is not only to coincide with the general strikes across Europe, but to draw attention to government attacks on terms and conditions. The day of action follows a wildcat walkout at HMRC in Coventry, in response to a visit by Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude. Already the development has forced movement from the union leadership, who have called a follow up day of action on 30 November. Activists have said they will call a further day of action in December, and are calling for more sporadic actions at...

The South London Trust Special Administrator report takes some wading through but it turns up some scary facts. Lewisham Hospital is set to become a centre that deals only with some elective procedures, and minor injuries such as fractures. The Administrator says that if Lewisham Hospital provides planned non-complex surgery, such as joint replacements, and does not have to deal with emergency cases, uncertainty about the timing of surgery would be reduced. Planned surgery is sometimes delayed because of emergency cases. But even routine elective surgery can be unpredictable, and emergencies...

On Thursday 8 November a meeting was held in the grounds of Lewisham Hospital about the campaign to prevent the cuts proposed by the 'Trust Special Administrator'. The proposals include shutting the A&E, maternity services, and complex and emergency surgery. In reality this would lead to much of the supportive services such as acute medical admissions and ITU being shut as well, and much of the hospital services and site would be shut down. The meeting room overflowed into two additional rooms where video link ups were used to involve as many people as possible, though some of the hundreds...

South London NHS Trust was taken into administration in July, because it was massively underfunded. Four hospitals were left in limbo until 29 October when the administrator announced their plans. A neighbouring Trust, Lewisham Healthcare will suffer, with its A&E, some surgery, and maternity services all threatened with closure. Lewisham Hospital is a small Trust, struggling to resist merger by applying for Foundation Trust status. A previous consultation had already proposed the closure of Lewisham’s A&E. In the event, the A&E in Sidcup was closed and the South London NHS Trust was formed...

Virgin Care has abolished its partnership agreements with over 300 GPs due to concerns over the “potential conflict of interest” when these GPs take control of commissioning in April 2013. Under the old arrangement these GPs had a 50% stake in Virgin Care partnerships (GPCos) providing services like GP surgeries, diagnostics and dermatology. If they continued with the partnership agreement then these GPs would be in a position to award themselves NHS contracts! The news that these partnerships have been dissolved is an admission by one of the big players in NHS privatisation that the new...

Health workers across the country face severe attacks on their terms and conditions unless a deal stitched up between health unions and national employers can be stopped. For over a year, NHS Trusts at a local level have been threatening and attacking terms and conditions guaranteed under the national "Agenda for Change" (AfC) agreement. Central Manchester NHS Trust was one of the first, imposing changes including linking incremental pay increases to sickness, a move that was later challenged and overturned in court. More recently, Trusts in the South West have begun planning a breakaway from...

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt will take the decision in 2013 on whether to close four A&E units in North-West London, against a backdrop of massive bed closures in the eight-borough area. The A&E units are at Charing Cross, Central Middlesex, Hammersmith and Ealing hospitals. The campaign against closure has included local marches, including one march of at least 2,000 people in Ealing where the local council has delivered leaflets opposing closure to all of the residents. NHS North West London’s consultation on the closure plans has just finished. Their plan, “Shaping a Healthier Future”...