Sunday, October 08, 2006
SAVE OUR LOCAL HEALTH SERVICES
It’s time to stand up for our NHS
The need to battle to save our local health services is now urgent. It’s time to stand up for our NHS.
Lib Dem Councillor John Beanse said: "Now is the time for local people to make their voices heard. Many years ago, several smaller local hospitals were closed; local protests were ignored in each case and almost everything was put on to the Whipps Cross site in the name of supposed efficiency. Now we seem to be being told that we cannot even have all these services in the borough any more. The future is uncertain.We recommend that people should write to the Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt MP, and also to the Chief Executive of Waltham Forest Primary Care Trust to have their say. It is vital that people take a stand now before it is too late."
At the September meeting of the Health Scrutiny sub-committee, Lib Dem councillors spoke out strongly about the worrying situation at Whipps Cross Hospital and the prospects for the future - and members of all parties voiced their serious concerns.
* There have already been ward closures at Whipps and there is a plan to close an elderly persons’ ward in December! What if there is a flu epidemic?
* Closure of operating theatres and staff redundancies are part of the plan.
* Meanwhile there are reductions in community services as part of the strategy of the PCT (Primary Care Trust).
* The longer term prospects for Whipps are looking increasingly shaky with the real possibility of departments closing, so that local people would have to travel out of the borough to other hospitals.
