Monday 30 May 2016

May newsletter





FOOTPRINTS IN SHIFTING SANDS

Yet again the NHS is being subjected to a drastic top-down reorganisation, this time without parliamentary approval, local consultation or media scrutiny. The NHS is being carved up, behind our backs, into 44 ‘footprints’ across England. By the end of June this year, each ‘footprint’ is required to submit a Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) to NHS England. What these plans are about are more cuts and more privatisation.

The footprint for NW London covers the 8 boroughs which formed 'Shaping a Healthier Future'. It is clear that SaHF is the basis for local proposals – but they are worse than anything we have seen up to now. As the Evening Standard discovered, what is planned for our part of London is at least the loss of 500 acute hospital beds – far more than in the original SaHF.

But these plans are all about austerity – not about improving health services for all of us. A key element of the STPs is that the NHS is to save £22bn by 2020 – rather more than the measly £8bn extra funding promised! And each ‘footprint’ has to meet impossible targets to get any of the ‘extra’ funding. The only way this can be done is by closing hospitals, closing A&Es, sacking staff, rationing treatment and, possibly at a later time, charging for some services.

While the government seems determined to slash spending on our NHS, we know that the actual percentage of GDP spent on health in the UK is to be cut. Currently this is 8.5% with plans to reduce this to 6.8% by 2020. This compares with France’s 10.9%, Germany’s 11.0% and the Netherlands' 11.1% - and even more starkly with the more than 16% in the United States (figures from the Kings Fund, Jan 2016)

Save Our Hospitals is committed to working with other campaigners to oppose these plans, just as we have opposed SaHF over the past 4 years. We are also demanding that there is full consultation before STPs are introduced.
A&E WAITING TIMES CONTINUE TO DETERIORATE
While NHS bureaucrats continue to pretend that it's possible to close 500 acute hospital beds (including 300 at Charing Cross) in NW London with no ill effects, evidence that this is dangerous mounts. We were told that the closures of Hammersmith & Central Middlesex A&E departments last year would not overload A&Es at Charing Cross and St Mary's. In fact there has been a notable deterioration in waiting times at both hospitals, and at Northwick Park, and in March 2016 A&E waiting times at Charing Cross and St Mary’s were amongst the worst in England - with more than 30% of the sickest people waiting more than 4 hours to be treated.
NOT SAFE – NOT FAIR

We await the details of the proposed agreement on the junior doctors’ contract – these have not yet been fully published. The result of the doctors’ ballot will not be known until early July. Whatever the outcome, junior doctors have fought a magnificent battle both for their own work conditions and for all NHS staff. Central to their fight is the evidence that the imposed contract was not fair to doctors and not safe for patients. Those of us on the picket lines with the junior doctors were not surprised at the overwhelming support of the public on each of the strike days.

BURSARY OR BUST As Unite the Union has pointed out: ‘The Tories plan to cut student nurses' bursaries and replace them with loans. After August 2017 nursing courses will be fee paying, leaving students with more than £50,000 of debt if they undertake a three year degree course. Saddling students with a lifetime of debt – which most of them will never be able to pay off – will massively deter those wanting to enter nursing and the other health professions covered by the bursary. It will affect people studying a range of professions including nursing, speech and language therapy, radiology, occupational therapy, mental health nursing and midwifery.’

Join Save Our Hospitals at the 'Bursary or Bust' demonstration on Saturday 4th June, at 1.00pm, outside St Thomas’s Hospital opposite Westminster. We’ll have our banner with us!

MORE DATES FOR YOUR DIARY

SOH AGM     Wednesday 8th June 7.30pm at Hammersmith Town Hall (probably Committee Room 4). We are hoping to have a junior doctor with us. ALL WELCOME.

STALLS        We hold a regular stall in the Borough when we distribute information, collect signatures on petitions and listen to what local people have to say about our health services. PLEASE COME AND JOIN US AT ONE OF OUR STALLS – EXTRA HELP ALWAYS WELCOME AND WE DO LIKE TO MEET OUR SUPPORTERS
Saturday 28th May 11.00-14.00 North End Road, Fulham (near Lillie Rd)
Saturday 11th June 14.00-16.00 Lyric Square, Hammersmith
Saturday 18th June 14.00-16.00 Shepherds Bush Market (Uxbridge Rd)
Saturday 25th June 14.00-16.00 Fulham Broadway, near St John’s Church
To email SOH:
scxandh@gmail.com

SOH on the web:

A&E waiting times revealed and more news...














NHS England gets tough. Get ready to resist hospital downgrades, cuts & closures shaping up in 44 "Footprint" areas
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NHS spend on private ambulances trebles in four years

NHS offers £12,000 for GP returners to work in struggling practices
http://www.pulsetoday.co.uk/home/finance-and-practice-life-news/nhs-offers-12000-for-gp-returners-to-work-in-struggling-practices/20031939.article

NHS bosses tucked into £937 meal on expenses as trust was £93million in debt

A decade of spin stops now, Mr Cameron

​Junior Doctors Contract

For the record: never about pay but very real concerns about safe staffing for patients, no resources & inequality
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Even HARDER to get a GP appointment in Gov plans to scrap high street chemists

A cat walking across a keyboard might actually explain some recent NHS England policies...

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POLL: Should the NHS begin charging patients?

Ask your MP to find some time to act against NHS privatisation on 28th June

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Carry on cutting the NHS by Peter Brookes

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Tuesday 24 May 2016

NHS incurs record £2.45bn deficit in England as demand outstrips funds...



NHS faces £10bn-a-year deficit by 2020, says report
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/23/nhs-10bn-a-year-black-hole-2020-cipfa-report?CMP=share_btn_tw

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Leaked Brexit email claims David Cameron has 'starved' NHS

Brexit brigade don’t have the NHS’s best interests at heart, says UNISON


NHS chief says Brexit would be dangerous for health service


Losing financial control of NHS was predicted by Risk
Register, 2010. Shamefully covered up...



TTlP: Government caves in to cross-party alliance of Eurosceptic MPs demanding NHS is protected from controversial deal




OPEN LETTER FROM DR CLIVE PEEDELL TO JEREMY HUNT REGARDING THE LEGALITY OF THE LATEST TOP-DOWN NHS REORGANISATION

Manager of NHS Trust ‘should resign’ over comments

New NHS contract will hit weekday service, doctors fear


The junior doctors' dispute is over – but the battle against the government to save the NHS is just beginning


Exclusive: Six-figure service charge hikes threaten future of GP practices across England

Ambulance delays linked to 35 deaths in past five years

BURSARY OR BUST MARCH:
Continuing the fight to save NHS bursaries
​ on the 04/06/2016​

H&F fights ‘dangerous’ plan to cut 500 beds from local hospitals

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Plans to remove hundreds of beds from local hospitals have been slammed as ‘dangerous’ by Hammersmith & Fulham Council Leader, Cllr Stephen Cowan.
The proposals to cut 500 acute beds across H&F and neighbouring boroughs were published last week by North West London NHS as part of their ‘transformation plans’. These plans have already been heavily criticised and were labelled ‘deeply flawed’ in Michael Mansfield QC’s landmark Independent Healthcare Commission report published last year.
The announcement has re-ignited concerns that a beds and funding crisis is threatening to hit local NHS services.
“The plans to consider cutting 500 hospital beds are frankly dangerous. And we will continue to fight to protect our health service at every level,” said Cllr Cowan.
“It is further proof that the credibility of the entire North West London Transformation plan, including proposals to axe blue-light services at Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith, is now in tatters.
“Local health bosses should be under no illusion that their most recent scheme will only serve to galvanise those dedicated campaigners who have fought so hard to protect local NHS services, such as those at Charing Cross.”
These proposals were revealed by the local NHS in Ealing, which recommend the closure of 500 acute beds in order to avert a £1billion overspend in health and social care over the next five years, as part of its NW London Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP).
The STP includes the Shaping a Healthier Future (SaHF) programme, which has already seen blue-light services axed at Hammersmith Hospital – with Charing Cross next in line for the axe as bosses move to sell off most of the site.
You can read Michael Mansfield QC’s landmark report on North West London NHS ‘Shaping a Healthier Future’ programme here (pdf).
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Please​ leave your comments at Hammersmith and Fulham Council website:

Friday 20 May 2016

'Dangerous' plans to axe 500 west London hospital beds slammed by council

H&F leader Stephen Cowan fears a beds and funding crisis is threatening to hit NHS services

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Hundreds of hospital beds could be axed across west London

Hammersmith and Fulham Council has continued its attack on local NHS reform plans after it emerged 500 hospital beds in west London were at risk.
Leader Stephen Cowan spoke out after it emerged the beds reduction was being made in a bid to avoid a £1 billion budget gap and treat patients closer to home.
It will result in the loss of 500 acute beds under the North West London Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) which has been outlined, but will not be officially submitted until June.
Cllr Cowan called the plans “dangerous” amid fears that a beds and funding crisis is threatening to hit local NHS services.
He said: “The plans to consider cutting 500 hospital beds are frankly dangerous. And we will continue to fight to protect our health service at every level.
“It is further proof that the credibility of the entire North West London Transformation plan, including proposals to axe blue-light services at Charing Cross Hospital in Hammersmith, is now in tatters.
“Local health bosses should be under no illusion that their most recent scheme will only serve to galvanise those dedicated campaigners who have fought so hard to protect local NHS services, such as those at Charing Cross.”
The STP includes the controversial Shaping a Healthier Future (SaHF) programme, which has already seen the A&E at Hammersmith and Central Middlesex hospitals close and the maternity ward at Ealing Hospital, which will also lose it children’s ward this summer.
The proposals to cut 500 acute beds across H&F and neighbouring boroughs were published by North West London They were revealed by the local NHS in Ealing, which recommend the closure of the beds in order to avert the overspend in health and social care over the next five years, as part of its STP.
And last year a report led by Michael Mansfield QC called for an immediate halt to changes made under SaHF.


VIDEO clips - Hammersmith and Fulham Council calls for Jeremy Hunt to resign at AGM 18/05/2016

Leader of H&F, Stephen Cowan, says Jeremy Hunt is not the right person to lead the NHS

Leader of H&F, Stephen Cowan intends to save Charing Cross Hospital and keep improving the community 

Cllr Vivienne Lukey calls on Jeremy Hunt MP to resign 

What's Jeremy Hunt's legacy? Asks Cllr Vivienne Lukey 

Cllr Sharon Holder says Jeremy Hunt consistently dismantled the NHS and he is hurting our community 

Cllr Rory Vaughan says Jeremy Hunt let down H&F residents and we have no confidence in him 

Cllr Ben Coleman says Jeremy Hunt is trying to close Charing X and the A&E without a business plan 

Lovely prayer at Hammersmith Town Hall

Hammersmith and Fulham Council calls for Jeremy Hunt to resign at AGM 18/05/2016

Cllr Mercy Umeh re-elected Mayor of Hammersmith and Fulham 













Cllr Larry Culhane















500 Acute NHS Beds To Be Axed in North West London Over the Next Four Years...

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It took an article in the 10 May 2016 issue of the ‘Evening Standard’ to inform us all about the projected butchering of our local hospitals. The so called debt of £1 billion in NHS NW London is apparently to be dealt with by axing 500 Acute beds in our local hospitals by 2020. The beds to be lost would have been for use by the physically ill and the mentally ill.
The trio who told the newspaper are the bosses of the NHS Ealing Clinical Commissioning Group, Brent Council and the NHS Imperial Healthcare Trust.
Digging deeper into this bombshell we find that the figures came from the draft 2016/2017 NHS NW London Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP). This draft STP has been hatched in secret by representatives of 31 public bodies which include eight NHS CCGs, eight Local Authorities and all the NW London NHS Trusts. The failing 2012 cost cutting ‘Shaping a Healthier Future’ (SaHF) programme does not get any mention whatsoever. Obviously SaHF as a cost cutting vehicle has now been replaced by STP.
The body which created this STP calls itself the NWL Strategic Planning Group (SPG). The SPG has no statutory authority and is not the creation of any Act of Parliament. No public consultation was carried out on the STP or the SPG. I can’t find any evidence of SPG meeting minutes or the draft STP. You might have thought that these documents might exist on the Ealing CCG web site, the Ealing Council website or the web site of the ‘North West London Collaboration of Clinical Commissioning Groups’. But you would be wrong.  
Of course the ‘Evening Standard’ quotes some anonymous NHS spokesperson shoveling out the usual claptrap about not axing beds before alternative services are in place. Well this never happened when Acute beds were axed from Central Middlesex and Hammersmith Hospitals in September 2014. And I don’t expect it will happen with the new ‘Axe 500 beds’ project.
Posted on 12/05/2016 by  in Ealing HospitalNHSNW London
Plan to train NHS nurses to cover for doctors sparks alarm
Nuffield Trust report recommends support staff become ‘physician associates’ to address shortage of junior doctors



NHS hospital porters soon to be taking your blood?

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