SOS NHS Day of Action – Ealing Hospital

26/02/2022

“Are we going to fight for the NHS – YES WE ARE!!”

This was the was the resounding call at todays uplifting protest.

Over 70 people turned out for today’s SOS NHS Day of Action to show their support for our NHS and its workers. Lots of people driving by in cars, vans and buses who constantly beeped and took our leaflets.

Around the country there were over 80 similar events calling for emergency NHS funding now; pay justice for health & care workers and a publicly owned and run NHS.

A big thanks to all our speakers who did us proud expressing both passion and anger and urging us on to fight on to defend and save our NHS. And of course we had plenty of chants in between.

There was a really great turnout from all our lovely campaigners and supporters as usual. We were also joined by Dr Sonia Adesera from Keep Our NHS Public, Virendra Sharma MP and Dr Onkar Sahota, Ealing Reclaim Social Care Action Group, Southall Community Alliance, Seniors Action Group Ealing, Ealing Housing Co-op, Green Party, Indian Workers Association and Stand Up to Racism.

Thanks to all those who came and to Ealing Trades Union Council for all their help and support.

We certainly did show that we are here to fight for our NHS and support NHS workers all the way!

SOS NHS Emergency Funding now!

Eve Turner

15/01/2022

The NHS urgently needs our support!

NHS workers are under the worst pressure ever, with beds at full capacity, huge waiting lists, staff shortages, and an insulting 3% pay offer for workers facing 7.1% inflation (and rising) has added to the demoralisation.

However, despite all the pressure and lack of resources NHS workers are still doing a fantastic job caring for us on the Covid wards and stepping up to help ensure that the booster vaccines get out to as many people as possible.

But coupled with the sheer exhaustion of 2 years of caring for Covid patients, it is no surprise that over 27,000 NHS staff left the service just in the last 3 months of 2021.

Hard as it will be, we need to make the Government urgently fund the NHS and that is why ‘Keep Our NHS Public’ and ‘Health Campaigns Together’ have launched a new campaign called ‘SOS NHS’.

If you want to get more involved in campaigning to save our NHS please support the new campaign and come to our AGM on Tuesday 18th January.

Wednesday 19th January SOS NHS RALLY – EMERGENCY FUNDING NOW !

SOS NHS is a new coalition of campaign groups and trade unions which are demanding emergency funding for the NHS to support services and staff and not the private sector.

This is the hardest winter ever in health and social care for a generation and that’s why SOS NHS believes we must act now to save staff morale, avoid a mental health crisis among health and care staff and safeguard services for patients and service users.

It’s three demands are –

Approve emergency funding of £20 billion to save lives this winter
Invest in a fully publicly owned NHS & guarantee free healthcare for future generations
Pay staff properly: without fair pay, staffing shortages will cost lives

Please join the Online Rally 7.00pm, Wednesday 19th January

REGISTER FOR THE RALLY HERE

Speakers from Keep Our NHS Public, Health Campaigns Together, People’s Assembly Against Austerity, Unite the Union, GMB, We Own It, NHS Support Federation, NHS Workers Say No, NHS Staff Voices, Doctors in Unite, Doctors for the NHS, personalities, politicians and more.

You can read more about SOS NHS here –

There will also be a SOS NHS National Day of Action on Saturday 26th February which aims to have local actions across the country. ESON will be supporting the SOS NHS campaign and discussing ideas for a local action at our AGM next week.

Please put the date in your diaries and watch out for our update.

ESON AGM & Meeting – Tuesday 18th January:

It’s AGM time, so we will be looking back over the last year and reviewing what we have done and discussing our campaigning priorities for 2022. It’s a good opportunity to find out more about what we have been doing and help us plan our campaigning for the next few months. You will be very welcome.

Our AGM kicks off with Lewis Baker, new Campaigns Officer with ‘Keep Our NHS Public (KONP), who will be talking to us about his work which includes liaising with local groups like us, and updating us on KONP’s national campaigning.

We will also be electing our Officers & Committee. If you are interested in getting involved please get in touch for more information – very happy to chat.

Join the meeting on Tuesday 18th January, 7.30pm here –

The Agenda will follow on Monday, so if you would like to attend, please email us.

Health & Care Bill

The Health & Care Bill which is now being debated in the House of Lords is a major threat to the NHS as a comprehensive, publically funded and publically provided service.

Some of the threats include:

Breaking up the NHS into 42 new Integrated Care Systems with huge budgets and the power to decide which services to provide – so a postcode lottery;
No requirement to provide an emergency services for everyone present in an area i.e. those not on a GP list.
Private sector companies allowed to sit on Integrated Care Boards and Committees and make decisions on how public money is spent – more profits for them!
Removing any requirement to assess patients care needs before they are discharged from hospital.
Loss of public accountability with no requirement for meetings of Integrated Care Boards to be held in public, publish papers or allow public questions in public.
Gives power to NHS Digital to share patient data with third parties including the private sector.
Giving the Secretary of State greater powers to intervene locally.

Although Health campaigners want to see the Bill thrown out we’re also hoping to persuade members of the Lords to amend some of the worst aspects as mentioned above.

You can read more about the Bill here

Peoples Covid Inquiry writes to Met Police concerning ‘criminal matters’

In December the Peoples Covid Inquiry which was chaired by Michael Mansfield QC published its findings on the handling of the Covid Pandemic and concluded the Government was guilty of misconduct in office.

Keep Our NHS Public who conceived and organised the Inquiry have, following legal advice, written to Cressida Dick, Metropolitan Police Commissioner setting out the case that the Government has committed two criminal offences namely corporate manslaughter (excessive Covid deaths) and misconduct in public office.

We look forward to seeing her response!

You can read the letter (it’s short) here

BREAKING NEWS – Government PPE ‘VIP’ lane for political friends declared ‘unlawful’

Congratulations to the Good Law Project and EveryDoctor who successfully challenged the Governments secretive fast-track VIP lane for PPE contracts, worth billions of pounds, to those with political (i.e. Tory) connections. On Wednesday 12th January the High Court ruled this had been unlawful. The Court found in favour of the claimants and said:

“The Claimants have established that operation of the High Priority Lane was in breach of the obligation of equal treatment… the illegality is marked by this judgment.” (§512)

The Judge agreed the VIP lane conferred preferential treatment on bids: it sped up the process, which meant offers were considered sooner in a process where timing was critical, and VIPs’ hands were held through the process. Some justice at last!!

You can read more here

Stop the Vaccine Manufacturing Centre Sell Off!!

Three days after the World Health Organisation placed Omicron on its Covid “variants of concern” list, news slipped out that the UK government was planning to sell off the publicly funded Vaccine Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (VMIC) in Oxford. While other countries have been scrambling to build vaccine capacity, Britain has chosen this precise moment to sell, to the highest bidder, what was to be its first strategic vaccine development and manufacturing centre.

According to the Government source, who leaked it to the Financial Times, since the private sector has stepped up so marvellously during the pandemic, producing huge quantities of vaccines there was simply no need for the Government to take part in making them itself!!

VMIC, when finished in 2023, is expected to be able to produce 70 million doses in six months. But rapid production is only one of the reasons to fund and build VMIC. The others include providing critical support to vaccine manufacturers at various stages in the process, from development through to taking a new vaccine into public use.

Oxfordshire Keep Our NHS Public has been working together with We Own It to oppose this scandalous sell off – Please Sign the Petition

You can read more on this story from the excellent John Lister in ‘The Lowdown’

SOME GOOD READING:

‘Vaccinate but let infection spread strategy’ is wrong’

A nice bit of analysis of the Government’s Covid Strategy from ‘John Puntis, Co – Chair of Keep Our NHS Public.

Sunak: from “Whatever NHS Needs” to “Booster Jabs Will Mean Cuts”

John Lister writing in the Lowdown reveals that Chancellor Rishi Sunak has shifted policy from giving the NHS “what it needs” to fight Covid to reportedly warning Health Secretary Sajid Javid that additional spending on will have to be paid for, either by cutting spending elsewhere or by raising taxes. Definitely worth reading.

Seasons Greetings & the Latest News

Eve Turner

15/12/2021

Despite Covid we have still had some good protests this year, including our celebration of the NHS 73rd Birthday in July and have recently resumed Street Stalls in Ealing, West Ealing and Greenford.

So a big thanks to everyone who has supported us over the year.

We have focused on spreading the word about the dangers to our NHS of the Health & Care Bill- yet another Government major re-organisation, just when the NHS is under the most enormous pressures and nearly 6 million people are stuck on waiting lists!

And have also been highlighting the Mental Health Crisis and the lack of any beds in Ealing for children, young people and adults.

OUR DECEMBER ROUND UP OF NEWS AND SOME PHOTOS:

‘Misconduct in Public Office’ says Peoples Covid Inquiry:

The Peoples Covid Inquiry has been a tremendous achievement by ‘Keep Our NHS Public’. Following months of interviews and evidence gathering the final report was presented at a successful Press Launch on 1st December.

Accusing the government of “serious governance failures”, the Peoples Covid Inquiry said: “These contributed to tens of thousands of avoidable deaths and suffering, and they amount to misconduct in public office.”

Some of the press coverage is well worth reading, link here

The Inquiry Chair, Michael Mansfield QC, said there had been “dismal failure in the face of manifestly obvious risks”.

He said the probe had identified a “theme of behaviour amounting to gross negligence by the government, whether examined singularly or collectively”.
“There were lives lost and lives devastated, which was foreseeable and preventable. “From lack of preparation and coherent policy, unconscionable delay, through to preferred and wasteful procurement, to ministers themselves breaking the rules, the misconduct is earth-shattering.”

KEY FINDINGS INCLUDE:

1. The depleted state of the NHS and other public services prior to the pandemic was a determining factor in poor outcomes and led to avoidable deaths.

2. The government was poorly prepared for the pandemic and moved too slowly, which led to avoidable death.

3. The government adopted the wrong strategy leading to loss of life and growing mistrust in its advice.

4. The government’s poor record on inequalities has put the most vulnerable at risk from illness and death from Covid-19.

5. Misconduct in public office: There has been dismal failure in the face of manifestly obvious risks.

You can read a Summary and the Full Report here:

And, of course we will keep you updated on any legal action against the Government!

Our Last Stall of the Year:

It’s been lovely to be able to talk to people again on the streets about what’s happening to our NHS and to hear their concerns. We had lots of support in Ealing and West Ealing, while Greenford was as welcoming as usual on December 4th. We gave out lots of our leaflets opposing the Health & Care Bill and on the Mental Health crisis. Most popular was our Petition calling on the NHS to urgently provide acute psychiatric beds for adults, children and young people in this Borough. 13 people braved the cold to help – what stars!

SIGN AND SHARE THIS PETITION!

ESON joins Protests Against the Health & Care Bill:

Despite the unprecedented pressure on the NHS with queuing ambulances, patients on trolleys, 6 million people on waiting lists and GPs unable to cope, this Government is more interested in pushing through a major re-organisation so they can exercise more control of the NHS and open it to even more privatisation.

In November we joined in a very lively protest in London against the Health & Care Bill, on the eve of the Third Reading. Unsurprisingly the Bill went through the Commons and is now in the Lords – where there will be further attempts to amend some of the worse aspects.

We had a good turn out from Ealing and were pleased to see Rupa Huq MP speaking on the platform. It was a real coming together of different campaigns, MPs and unions with much determination to fight on to defend our NHS.

SIGN THE PETITION TO THE LORDS

Anti-privatisation campaign group ‘We Own It’ are asking people to help lobby Members of the House of Lords. By signing and circulating their Petition. It asks the Lords to amend the Health and Care Bill to stop private companies sitting on NHS boards and make the NHS the default provider.

Please sign it here

Round up of News from Ealing Hospital & London North West NHS Trust:

To cope with the increasing Winter pressures more beds have opened at Ealing Hospital and Intensive Care beds have increased to 12 at Ealing and 24 at Northwick Park (NWP). The London Ambulance Service has been asked to ease the pressure on Northwick Park by equalising ambulances between Ealing and Northwick. (It’s a good job the Ealing A&E is still there to help!)

Improvements are being made slowly in the Maternity Service at Northwick Park Hospital following its very poor rating by the Inspectors.

Plans to restructure the Breast Service are underway and it seems likely that a substantial part of the service will be centralised at Northwick Park, although the Trust claims they are still maintaining Clinics at Ealing and Central Middlesex Hospital at the same time – they are producing a Report in January and we are ready to campaign if necessary.

It is unusual for services to return to Ealing Hospital once they are cut, but common sense has prevailed at last and the Trauma Service will be re-opening in the New Year. This means that ambulances with trauma patients will no longer be diverted to Northwick Park – definitely good news.

Have Your Say – Review of End of Life /Palliative Care Services:

A major review of ‘community based’ specialist palliative care services is being carried out by the North West London NHS. They say that whilst there are some excellent services , not all residents in North West London get the same quality or level of services or are even able to access these services, which they want to address.

By community-based they mean; hospice in patient or day care, such as Meadow House in Ealing Hospital, care homes, community hospital or in the patient’s home. But it doesn’t include hospital based end of life/palliative care, district nursing or GP services.

They are carrying out a series of ‘engagement’ events to get the views of people with experience of end of life /palliative services. We hope that this is a genuine attempt to improve services, which are a bit of a patchwork and won’t lead to cuts in our local services.

NWL NHS has published a document setting out why they are carrying out this review and have invited comments from residents. There is also a survey for people to complete.

The closing dates for people to give their views is Weds 23rd February 2022

You can read more about the issues and how to get involved here –

Some good reading on Health & Social Care:

The December issue of the excellent Health Campaigns Together Bulletin is packed with the latest news and analysis on what’s happening to our health services – something you can’t read in the Media! Among the many interesting articles is news of the ‘End of Virgin Care’ and ‘SOS NHS’ a new campaign to save health & social care plus the ongoing scandals of privatisation and dirty deals.

You can read it here –

2022 – A date for your diary:

We will start our campaigning year with our Zoom AGM & Campaign Meeting on Tuesday 18th January 2022 at 7.30pm.

It is a good opportunity to find out what we have been doing and help us plan our next steps, so why not come along, you will be most welcome.

NHS in Crisis : Stop the Health & Care Bill

Eve Turner

12/11/2021

The crisis in our NHS is continuing and worsening with daily stories of A&Es under severe pressure and some even declaring black alerts. The pressure on A&E means not only that patients end up waiting for hours on trolleys or chairs waiting to be seen but ambulances are unable to handover over patients.

Unfortunately the pressure on A&Es and the growing number of Covid patients in hospitals is only adding to the waiting lists which have now reached 5.8 million. But of course the Government continues to blame everyone but themselves for the ongoing NHS crisis.

This month we have news on what is happening to our local ambulance services, campaigning against the Health & Care Bill (or ‘corporate takeover bill’) and our upcoming campaign meeting with GP, Dr Louise Irvine, who will be answering our questions on GP services.

ESON Campaign Meeting –Tuesday 16th November -7.30pm

Questions & Answers with Dr Louise Irvine

GPs have been big news in the media recently with some newspapers running a pretty nasty campaign claiming GPs are lazy and not seeing patients. It is understandable that patients get frustrated at long delays in seeing their GPs but the blame should be directed at the Government for failing to address the growing number of GP vacancies and to invest properly.

We are delighted that Dr Louise Irvine is joining us again for a Q&A on GP services. Louise is a South London GP, a tireless campaigner and well known from the Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign. She is also a member of the Keep Our NHS Public National Steering Group.

The meeting will be on ZOOM

Join the meeting on Tuesday 16th November at 7.30pm

LINK HERE

Meeting ID: 891 2208 4730
Passcode: 830768

Also on the Agenda will be updates on Ealing Hospital & the Trust, campaigning against the Health & Care Bill, Mental Health services and a roundup of NHS news.

Why are waiting – ambulances queues at A&Es growing:

At our October meeting we were fortunate to have a talk by Malcolm Alexander, Chair of the Patients Forum for the London Ambulance Service (LAS) on the situation in London

They have been doing a great job in monitoring the LAS and mounted a very successful campaign that has halted LAS plans to close 60+ ambulance stations and replace them with ‘hubs’. The cuts would have increased demoralisation among staff and led to even longer ambulance waits.

Malcolm told us about the worsening performance of LAS which is failing to meet target times for ambulances to reach critically ill patients, and the massive number of hours lost due to waits outside A&Es.

The October LAS figures show in London alone 1943 patients waited over an hour in ambulances to be handed over to A&E. Ealing Hospital seems to be doing better than most with 22 patients waiting over an hour that month whereas Northwick Park had 173 patients waiting over an hour!

The most recent figures for England as a whole show that ambulance handover of one hour or more up fourfold with 28,900 ambulance handovers lasting longer than an hour during a four-week period in October. This was almost four times higher than the 7,772 hour-long handovers recorded in October 2020.

This means patients laying in roads or on floors at home, waiting for ambulances that are stuck in queues outside A&E.

A&E waits are not the only factor in increased waiting times for ambulances as like the rest of the NHS there are large numbers of staff vacancies across the ambulance service.

The Governments claims to have a 10 point action plan for the Winter, which includes writing to Trusts and Systems telling them to take immediate action to stop ambulance delays – a magic wand anyone!

Read Article

Health & Care Bill a threat to the future of our NHS:

On 23rd November the Health & Care Bill comes back to Parliament having gone through the committee stage where it can be amended by MPs. Whilst there has been some useful amendments the fundamental threat remains that the Bill will undermine a comprehensive, national, publically run NHS.

As readers may know the Bill carves up the NHS in to 42 regional integrated care systems with massive budgets and control of decision making for all NHS services in their area – in our case North West London.

This means they have total control over who delivers our services and in particular what treatments they will prioritise and which not to prioritise thus creating a postcode lottery. There is even a threat to national pay and conditions for NHS.

The potential for private health companies to increase their influence has been well publicised and although the Government has amended the Bill so that individuals with ‘significant interests in private health’ can’t sit on the main Integrated Care Boards, there is nothing stopping them from sitting on the myriad of sub committees.

Public accountability will be significantly reduced with no guarantees of meeting taking place in public or papers being publically available although we have been told that this will happen in North West London – how transparent they are will remain to be seen.

Margaret Greenwood MP has written an excellent article in ‘Open Democracy’, which spells out very clearly why MPs should be voting against the Bill on 23rd- which you can read here.

‘We Own it’ Poll shows lack of public support for Bill:

A Survation Poll recently carried out for anti-privatisation group ‘We Own It’ shows only 2 out of 10 people surveyed thought re-organising the NHS should be a Government priority.

Whereas in contrast 8 out of 10 said they wanted the Government to prioritise tackling waiting lists and ensuring people could see their GPs face to face.

Of the 1,008 people polled, 72 per cent said they were worried that the proposals would open the health service to contracts being given out to private companies without scrutiny.

70 per cent of Tory voters polled raised these concerns, while 83 per cent of Labour supporters did.

We Own It director Cat Hobbs said the group’s survey shows that the public, including a majority of Tory voters “are rightly very concerned about the likes of Richard Branson getting contracts in our NHS by the back door.”

“We’re calling on all MPs to take a stand now for our NHS and stop this Bill from damaging our health service” she added.

Coming just before the vote on the Bill on the 23rd this should give Tory MPs some food for thought.

JOIN THE PROTEST AGAINST THE Bill:

Monday 22 November, 5.00pm, Richmond Terrace SW1A 2JL (near the Cenotaph and 10 Downing Street

An alliance of health workers, campaigners and celebrities led by ‘Unite’ the union have called a protest outside Parliament on 22nd November to oppose the Health & Care Bill ahead of the vote on the Bill on 23rd November.

Ealing Save Our NHS will be joining in with our banner and would love to see a good turn out from Ealing.

Scandal of private testing firm that put thousands of lives at risk:

Many of you will have the read the story of the private testing firm in Wolverhampton that told 43,000 people in the South West that their PCR Test was negative when in fact they were positive!

Immensa who own the laboratory were awarded a £119 million contract last September to carry out testing without going through the accreditation process and there was no tender process either.

Stories from whistleblowing staff suggest it is no surprise with the emphasis being on quantity not quality.

Once the alarm had been set off you would have expected the Government to suspend testing at Immensa but it took weeks and apparently they are still being paid to process PCR tests for travel at their laboratory in Loughborough – unbelievable!

Unsurprisingly Covid cases in the South West have quadrupled but according to the Government it’s nothing to do with the false negative results which led to people assuming they were safe, but because Covid cases had been low in those areas. You really couldn’t make this up.

There are some excellent personal stories in ‘Open Democracy’, from the Stroud Coronavirus Group in the South West, well worth a read, and it looks like the Government is in for some well-deserved legal action by the Good Law Project.

STREET STALL THIS SATURDAY: If you are in Ealing Broadway this Saturday we would be very pleased to see you at our Stall outside Marks & Spencers from 11.30 -1.00pm.

Cuts & Challenges facing the London Ambulance Service and more this month

Eve Turner

15/10/2021

This month we have stories of the Governments latest manoeuvres, this time it’s to blame managers for not dealing with the waiting list crisis and not spending the money effectively – you really couldn’t make it up.

They haven’t got off completely scot free as there have been some damaging headlines on Covid failings but as you will read they got off fairly lightly!

There is a bit of good news about Ealing Hospital and some very good reading too.

Our Guest Speaker this month is Malcolm Alexander, Chair of the Patients Forum for the London Ambulance Service telling us more about our ailing ambulance service.

CAMPAIGN MEETING TUESDAY 19TH OCTOBER AT 7.30PM

‘CUTS & CHALLENGES FACING THE LONDON AMBULANCE SERVICE’

Our next Meeting with be on ZOOM from 7.30pm – all welcome.

Our Guest Speaker is Malcolm Alexander, Chair of the ‘Patients Forum for the LAS’ and a long time campaigner.

As many of you will have read the London Ambulance Service (LAS) has been in crisis for some time with Government cuts and underfunding leading to increasingly poor performance. More recently plans were revealed to close 68 ambulance stations, to be replaced with 18 ‘hubs’. Thanks to campaigning these dangerous plans are now on hold.

Malcom Alexander was very instrumental in the campaign against the threatened closures and appeared in the national media – we are delighted he can join us for what should be a very interesting discussion – please tune in!

Also on the Agenda will be the latest news on what’s happening at Ealing Hospital and LNWH Trust, mental health, upcoming meeting with Tim Orchard, CEO of Imperial Trust, future street stalls & the campaign for fair pay in the NHS.

To join the ZOOM Meeting here at 7.30pm please contact us.

GOOD TO BE OUT ON THE STREETS AGAIN!:

It was great to be out on the streets of West Ealing last Saturday with our Stall after such a long time. There was lots of interest especially in our Mental Health leaflet. Clearly many people and their families are experiencing problems and some are having difficulties accessing services. It certainly doesn’t help having no beds in Ealing for children or adults under 65** Thanks to everyone who came to help.

**Please do have a read of our latest research on beds in Ealing on our website produced by members of our Mental Health Working Group.

A SHORT UPDATE ON EALING HOSPITAL:

The Trust who runs Ealing Hospital meets in Public every two months, so it is an opportunity for us to ask questions. Recently Ealing Hospital has been getting more resources and some attention. At the meeting last month a clear statement was made that Ealing Hospital will remain a District General Hospital with a fully operational A&E, so they have to resource all the services that are needed to support that. There are plans to increase surgical activity but these are not yet defined. In the pipeline is plans to build a new multi-story car park, but that means the current car park will be sold, no doubt for more housing!

GOVERNMENT FAILINGS ON COVID EXPOSED OR LET OFF THE HOOK?

Media headlines on the Parliamentary Health & Social Care Committee’s Coronavirus – lessons learnt to date’ report, gives the impression that the Government failings on Covid, leading to thousands of unnecessary deaths has finally been exposed. But has it?

Reading more closely and looking at the response from national campaigners and bereaved families is seems the Government has got off lightly and the real lessons not learnt.

Perhaps this is not surprising given that it was chaired by Jeremy Hunt (Health Secretary from 2012-18) keen not to be too implicated for his own role, and Greg Clark Conservative MP.

‘Keep Our NHS Public’ who recently concluded their excellent ‘Peoples Covid Inquiry’ which took evidence from bereaved families, front line staff and expert scientists and clinicians (unlike the parliamentary committee) said –

‘Despite outlining some mistakes in the Government’s early response, which will surprise next to no one, the report and the spin on it rests most of the blame on public health bodies rather than the Government, and of course Prime Minister Boris Johnson gets off almost scot-free’

Hannah Brady, Spokesperson for the ‘Covid 19 Bereaved Families for Justice Campaign’, said the report was a slap in the face for the families which is not surprising given that the Committee explicitly refused to speak to them or any bereaved families.

‘The report … is laughable and more interested in political arguments about whether you can bring laptops to Cobra meetings than it is in the experiences of those who tragically lost parents, partners or children to Covid-19. This is an attempt to ignore and gaslight bereaved families, who will see it as a slap in the face.’

You can read more on this story here –

MASSIVE WAITING LISTS – BLAME IT ON THE MANAGERS!

Yet again the Government is shifting blame for its failures, this time it’s the waiting list crisis. According to Health Secretary, Sajid Javid, “throwing money at the problem is not the answer”, it’s down to health managers to manage the money much more efficiently and make it go much further! Just how the current (or indeed proposed) amount of funding can go further with over 100,000 NHS vacancies and lack of at least 17,000 beds, he doesn’t explain.

The Health Secretary’s plans to ‘fix the crisis’ include an independent management review which is to be led by recently retired Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Gordon Messenger (military training for NHS bosses?) Javid also proposes changes that would allow him to take control of hospitals considered to be performing poorly, possibly replacing the whole leadership team with higher performing neighbours or business leaders. This obviously isn’t going down well with health service managers who rightly see it as a ‘slap in the face’ and, many of them are reported as thinking about leaving the NHS.

You can read more on this story here –

OCTOBER ISSUE OF HEALTH CAMPAIGNS TOGETHER BULLETIN – A MUST READ!

The latest issue is packed with great stories and analysis as usual including; the Health & Care Bill summed up patients paying privately for hip and knee operations; fantasy hospital plans, pharmacists to cash in on GP crisis.You can read it here online –

A easy to read set of leaflets has been produced by Health Campaigns Together which summarise the key threat of the Health & Care Bill

You can read them here

The Lowdown – on Our Mental Health Services

Oliver New

25/09/2021

Restoring Mental Health Starts With Talking — Shot of a stressed out young woman having a discussion with her female psychotherapist while being seated on a sofa inside of a living room.

A report from online research journal “the Lowdown” highlights the current situation for our mental health services

“There are around 8 million people in England that are denied access to mental health services because they do not have severe enough symptoms to get put onto a waiting list, according to NHS leaders.”

CHILDREN’S AND YOUNG PEOPLE’S SERVICES EALING – Early Intervention

admin

13/09/2021

There’s a national crisis in mental health – and any failure to address children’s needs is especially dreadful. Rates of depression and suicides are rising. NHS Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) have been targeted for austerity cuts since 2010. Even the NHS Confederation says the system is at “tipping point”. (See the Lowdown on Mental Health Services)

What’s happening in Ealing? Our campaign research puts a spotlight on the situation.

Healthy Child Programme – Public Health England

First point of contact NHS services Midwifery & Health Visiting & GP services

Pathways 0-5 year element – health visiting service preventive & universal services; Identifying health needs which include physical, social and emotional for child and family

5 -19 Service led by school nursing service preventive universal services, and referral to GP for medical need and onward to other services as necessary including voluntary sector.

CAMHS Mental Health Tiers

Health visiting and school nursing services link into the Ealing Tier 1 Universal services – early

intervention. CAMHS will have children of all ages referred to their services but less likely to be under-fives but some developmental and behaviour problem can be identified in those early years.

School children may be referred into Tier 2 services, counselling, YOTs etc

Tier 3 Specialist services will have children and adolescents with moderate to severe mental health problems.

Community Nursing Staff

Specialist Public health Nurse qualification (Nursing & Midwifery Council Register)

In 2015 the health visitor and school nurse budgets were transferred to LA Public Health Department from the NHS. Both services are now managed by Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust from 2018

London Borough of Ealing

Staff Whole Time Equivalent (Agenda for Change Pay Banding )

Health Visitors

Grade 2018 2019 2020

Band 6 33.21 30.2 22.93

Band 7 4.88 3.80 5.0 Team Leaders and Practice Teachers

Totals 38.09 34.00 27.93

Band 5 6.22 3.63 5.63 Skill mix registered support nurses

School Nurses

2018 2019 2020

Band 6 2.00 3.88 5.68

Band 7 1.80 1.00 1.00 Team leaders

Totals 3.80 4.88 6.6

There is DFE has also funded for Ealing pilot project (SWIS) for social workers in 8 secondary schools

Potential Workload

Total Population 2020 352,000

2020 – 5,250 births in Ealing Low birth weight 138

0-19 Population 2020 – 67,000

0-4 population 2020 – 23,615

Ealing has 91 state-funded schools and nurseries.

16 Secondary Schools

69 Primary Schools

8 Special & alternative schools

25 children’s centres

Special Educational Needs Primary 764

Secondary 389

Special School 824

Total Workforce England

It would appear that since the transfer of funding to Local Authority in 2015 the England workforce numbers appear to have declined.

Health visitors

2015 12,094 Increase in HV workforce – government investment.

2017 8497

2020 6672

School Nurses

2017 2400

2020 925

There was an increase in skill mix with registered staff nurses and nursery nurses for the school nurse service.

Access to services

There is no maternity unit in Ealing Hospital, so mothers can choose to go to the hospital of their choice. As soon as baby is born then a notification will be sent to Ealing for mothers with Ealing addresses

Access to services for Children and Families in Ealing is via Central London Community Health Trust website but parents should have contact information at the new birth assessment visit which include all the child health checks, health advice information and immunisation schedule.

Concerns

Workforce deployment during Covid-19 lockdowns

Large workloads if following the mandated Healthy Child Programme – recommended caseload per health visitor is 250 families, but caseloads now can be 500-1000 families (iHV 2020)

Reducing numbers of staff over time since 2015 – council grants reduced

Staff leaving from stress of job – unmanageable workloads

Devastating toll of the pandemic. Are we abandoning children and young people?

Not enough nurses going into training for Specialist Qualification in Public Health Nursing – having to take out education loans

COVID-19 has made it very difficult for community nurses to carry the normal programme of visiting and child health clinics due to lockdown. Many of the contacts are now telephone or on line. These might exclude those families who don’t have access to IT. In some areas, health visitors can visit if they have adequate PPE. Almost 20% of heath visitors reported that 50% or more of their team were redeployed during the first year of pandemic.

Redeployment significantly reduced the workforce in some areas, leaving the remaining health visitors to manage increased caseloads, reducing the amount of time available to support individual families. (Institute of Health Visiting 2020)

Review of Mandation of Health Visiting Services Gov. UK 2017 states that they have started to decline due to uncertainty during that year and reduced investment to LAs and possible delays in recruitment and training

Local authorities are responsible for commissioning public health services for children aged 0-19. Regulation requires all families with babies to receive five health visitor checks before their child reaches 2 and a half years old as described in the Healthy Child Programme 0-5 years.

Public health services for children aged 0-19 are predominantly led and delivered by health visitors and school nursing teams with input from other partners as appropriate.

Local commissioners should also consider the links and interface with screening programmes, mental health, sexual health, smoking, substance misuse and dental health. The core public health offer for all children includes:

This guidance is based on a public health pathway for children and young child health surveillance (including infant physical examination) and development reviews
€child health protection and screening
€information, advice and support for children, young people and families
early intervention and targeted support for families with additional needs
€health promotion and prevention by the multi-disciplinary team
defined support in early years and education settings for children with additional and complex health needs
additional or targeted public health nursing support as identified in the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, for example, support for looked after children, young carers, or children of military families

Best start in life and beyond: Improving public health outcomes for children, young people and families Public Health England 2020

A Summary of Mental Health Ward Closures in Ealing

admin

10/09/2021

In this short article our campaign researchers take us through the story of how, Step by step, mental health beds have closed in Ealing as the NHS funding crisis unfolded.

We must not forget what has been taken away and we continue to campaign for vital services..

A Summary of Mental Health Ward Closures in Ealing

St Bernard’s Hospital has been providing mental health care to the people of Ealing since it first opened in 1931. Based on the same site as Ealing Hospital, it includes beds for male and female adults with mental health conditions, as well as specialist services for older people.

Over the past ten years, St Bernard’s has lost approximately 70 beds through closures, meaning that more Ealing residents and carers are having to travel out of the borough for mental health care and treatment.

In 2013, the John Conolly Wing (JCW) was closed and demolished to make way for a new Forensic Medium Secure Unit (catering for patients who require a higher level of security). As a result, patients from acute services were relocated to four wards at Wolsey Wing on the Ealing site (Hope, Horizon, Starlight and Discovery), and others to wards at Lakeside and Charing Cross.

As part of the closure of JCW, two older people’s wards (Windemere and Coniston), which had 16 beds each, closed and the 18-bedded Jubilee ward opened (leading to a net loss of 14 beds).

Following the move to the Wolsey Wing, Starlight ward (8 female beds) and Discovery ward (17 male beds) also subsequently closed. Both wards were noted to be doing well in 2013 as you can read here.

In 2019/2020, two rehab wards (Mott House and Glyn ward) moved from the Ealing site to Lakeside, where they were amalgamated and renamed Robin ward. Mott House was a Highly accredited Adult Rehab service.

The Wolsey Wing (Hope and Horizon) closed to inpatients due to the COVID pandemic in March 2020. There is no information available at present about if/when those wards will reopen. This means that since the closure of these wards, patients from the borough of Ealing who need inpatient psychiatry admissions are being admitted in either Hammersmith or Hounslow. A freedom of information response is pending on admission of Ealing patients to private psychiatry wards.

Hope was a female admissions ward with 17 beds, and Horizon a male admission ward of 14 beds. In 2016, the CQC report mentioned that both wards could be noisy, unsettled and that the long narrow layout of the wards did not provide adequate communal space, including access to quiet areas.

Ref: https://www.cqc.org.uk/sites/default/files/new_reports/AAAF9938.pdf

In the last 5 years (11/06/16 – 11/06/21), 16 and 17 year old adolescent patients with acute mental health problems were admitted to adult wards on 37 occasions across areas covered by West London NHS Trust. The Ealing Hospital site has no mental health wards dedicated to 16 and 17 year old patients, and it is unclear whether the Trust has any standard operating procedure to ensure that such young people are appropriately supported when admitted in adult mental health wards.

Rally to Scrap the Health & Care Bill – Wednesday 8th September – a great line-up

Eve Turner

02/09/2021

Campaigning is underway to oppose the rather misnamed ‘Health & Care Bill’, starting with a National Online Rally next Wednesday 8th September.

The Health & Care Bill is likely to lead to even greater privatisation with private companies being allowed onto NHS Boards, so we can expect to see even more big contracts handed out without any competition, just like the billions wasted on ‘Test & Trace’.

PROTECT THE NHS RALLY
SCRAP THE HEALTH AND CARE BILL

Register now for this webinar rally:

As well as the threat of privatisation the Bill will lead to a major loss of local accountability and control with decision making and budgets concentrated in huge new bodies called Integrated Care Systems covering millions of people. The chronic staff shortages after a decade of underfunding are barely addressed and the Mental Health and Social Care crisis is barely mentioned,

However the Bill is very good news for some health service bosses – as the Health Service Journal has just revealed that the new Chief Executives of the powerful Integrated Care Systems, like North West London can expect to earn up to £270,000!!

National Campaign, ‘Keep Our NHS Public‘, has organised this excellent online Rally with a great line-up of speakers that brings together, campaigners, NHS workers and politicians.

Speakers Include:

Julie Hesmondhalgh, Actor
Michael Rosen, Writer
Dr Tony O’Sullivan (KONP)
Jonathan Ashworth MP Shadow Secretary of State for Health
Alia Butt (NHS Staff Voices)
Steve Cowan, Council Leader
Mark Ladbrooke, Chair Socialist Health Association
Cat Hobbs, Director of We Own It
Holly Turner (NHS Workers Say No)
Dr Philippa Whitford MP (SNP)
Dr David Wrigley (BMA)
Dr Sonia Adesara (KONP)
John Lister, Health Campaigns Together & The Lowdown

This is the start of what will hopefully be a big campaign so please try and attend and spread the word.

Register for this webinar rally HERE

NHS DATA GRAB ON HOLD INDEFINITELY AFTER MILLIONS OPT OUT!

More than 1.2 million people have opted out of NHS GP data-sharing in just one month over the Summer, which is amazing and a big success for the campaign to protect our medical records. Under the proposed Government scheme, launched in May and officially called the General Practice Data for Planning and Research service, anyone registered with a GP in England could have potentially had their personal health data shared with private companies.

According to the latest Guardian report the plans have been put on hold indefinitely, but it doesn’t mean they have been totally dropped so we still need to be vigilant. We will continue to keep you updated.

Link to Guardian Report –

‘WE WONT WAIT! – SUPP0RT THE CAMPAIGN FOR NHS FUNDING TO BRING DOWN WAITING LISTS

Anti privatisation campaigners ‘We Own It‘ are launching a new campaign this Saturday for proper funding to bring down waiting list. There are now over 5.5 million people waiting for treatment and the figure continues to rise. Instead of funding beds and staff the Government has awarded huge contracts to the private sector worth up to £ 10 billion.

Tens of thousands of hospital beds are being unused whilst shareholders rub their hands. We have recently seen figures that show that our local NHS Trust has one of the highest levels on unused beds in the country so we will certainly be asking them questions.

‘We Own It‘ are keen to hear stories from patients waiting for treatment or have been forced to pay for private treatment.

Campaign launch this Saturday 4th September , 12-1.00pm opposite Old Palace Yard, Parliament, Westminster

More details of the campaign can be found here

A SUCCESSFUL HANWELL CARNIVAL DESPITE THE RAIN:

Despite the rainy August weather lots of people visited our stall to chat, take our latest leaflets and show their support. Our latest photo opportunity was a big hit with the kids and some adults too.

Here are just a few of the children who enjoyed being skeletonized!!!

More pictures on our website

Ealing Save Our NHS got great support at Hanwell Carnival – especially from dozens of skeletons!

Oliver New

26/08/2021

Once again the organisers of Hanwell Carnival did the community proud. Despite rain in the morning, thousands of local people turned up and we talked to lots of them. Dozens of small people became skeletal!