| The response in Ealing, Greenford and Pitshanger at our Street Stalls to the news was fantastic. Most people realise that Ealing Hospital has been downgraded over the years and understand the need for us to carry on campaigning. |
| Our latest Petition calls on health authorities in North West London to ‘Bring back Vital Services To Ealing Hospital’ |
PLEASE SIGN OUR PETITION HERE
| Will NHS Bosses learn from the failure of their plan to downgrade our hospitals’? |
| As soon as it was announced that the ‘Shaping a Healthier Future’ (SaHF) cuts plans had been abandoned, NHS bosses issued a press release, in which they said ‘SaHF has achieved a lot over the past seven years, and everybody who worked on it can be very proud of the programme’s success. |
| These ‘successes’ include providing 24/7 Urgent Care Centres (which Ealing already had) and ‘improvements’ to maternity and paediatric services. It is hard not be angry at such a blatant disregard for the feelings of people in Ealing, who lost their local Maternity Unit and Children’s acute services! |
| At a recent meeting of North West London NHS bosses we asked if there would be a public announcement on the final cost of the ‘Shaping a Healthier Future’ (SaHF) project and a public examination of the project and its failure. The answer was basically NO. There were promises of doing things differently in the future and even better ‘engagement’ with the public and even our campaign. However without a proper balance sheet they may well be doomed to make the same mistakes again. |
| Unfortunately they stopped publishing figures in 2017, but by then they had spent £72 million pounds on fees for management consultants. On top of this 130 people were employed including 75 “interim executives” – what a waste of money and time! |
| The final cost could easily be over £200 million pounds– enough to build a brand new hospital. If success could be measured in money spent then it was certainly successful for management consultants and NHS bureaucrats! |
| You can read more on this story in the excellent ‘Waste Disposal’ article in Private Eye published this month – HERE |
| Serious financial problems in North West London NHS: |
| NHS bosses in North West London (Clinical Commissioning Groups) have started the year with a £87 million pound deficit and are expected to end the year with no deficit at all! |
| So how will they do this – one of the main ways is by – ‘Demand Management’. By this they mean placing big constraints on people being referred to Acute Hospitals, such as Ealing. This could lead to Hospitals not being paid if they admit too many people, adding to their financial woes, and GPs being put under pressure not to refer patients to hospitals. Certainly something we need to monitor and challenge. |
| Cuts are already in the pipeline in Hammersmith & Fulham in response to a £30million deficit which could lead to the closure of the Urgent Care Centre at Hammersmith Hospital at night and cuts to out of hours GP appointments too. Sister campaign Hammersmith & Fulham Save Our NHS and the Council are vigorously opposing thses cuts. |
| EALING SAVE OUR NHS CAMPAIGN MEETING – TUESDAY 21ST MAY |
| There will be some smiling faces at our first meeting since the SaHF closure plans have been abandoned. Top of our Agenda will be a discussion on our priorities, which will include campaigning to restore services to Ealing Hospital. We will also be discussing our forthcoming Public Meeting, Hanwell Carnival and responding to the NHS Long Term Plan. We really welcome new people, so why not come along to find out more information and how you can help. |
| 7.30pm in Northfields Community Centre (tea & coffee provided) |
| North West London has lowest number of GPs: |
| A recent report by the BBC has revealed that according to research by the Nuffield Trust, North West London has the worst ratio of GPs to patients in England with only 53.5 per 100,000. The average for England though is not much better at 58.1. Overall our GP services are at best struggling, which is why so many of us have to wait weeks for appointments and surprise, surprise, end up in A&E! |
| You can read the story here |
| The chronic shortage of GPs in the UK was also the subject of a recent Panorama programme on ‘GPs why can’t I get an appointment’. Here |
| So how does the Government plan to address the GP Crisis? |
| The main focus is on ‘new’ Primary Care Networks, which are to be introduced on 1stJuly. GP practices will be expected to join a PCN in order to access extra money for enhanced services such as clinical pharmacists, social prescribing link workers and physiotherapists. |
| It’s very ambitious and there are big concerns about the impact on GP Practices and financial incentives to reduce accident and emergency attendances and hospital admissions. |
| GP & NHS Campaigner Dr Louise Irvine has written a very interesting article on the future of primary care & GP’s which outlines some of the issues and includes ideas for a GP Charter. Read it here |
| OTHER DATES FOR YOUR DIARY |
| Hanwell Carnival – Join in the Fun – Saturday 15th June |
| Join the Carnival Parade: We usually get a great crowd joining our Ealing Save Our NHS Contingent. This year we will be celebrating saving our A&E, but also highlighting the need to restore our lost services. Our legendary bed and our striking hats will no doubt make an appearance. It is guaranteed to be fun, so why not join in – Please contact Sarah on 07752-685558 for more information. |
| Help on our Stall. It’s a long day (12 – 6.00pm)so we can always do with more help. We will have leaflets, petitions, and stickers to give out. We are still working on other ideas but ideas include thank you cards for our hospital staff for sticking it out over the last 7 years, photo messages and more. Please let me (Eve) know on 07960 309457 if you would like to help. |
| Wednesday 10th July – Ealing Save Our NHS Public Meeting. |
| We have booked the excellent John Lister, well known national NHS campaigner & writer and will shortly announce more names. It will be at 7.30pm in Ealing Green Church – please make a note in your diary. |
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