Parliament yesterday debated the NHS.   We were pleased to see the Whittington came up several times in the debate.  We were particularly happy to see this response from the Health Minister to a question from Islington South MP, Emily Thornberry.

The decision about the future of the Whittington is down to the local NHS authorities, but the Minister, Mike O’Brien, sounded his frustration at the poor consultation by North Central London NHS and pointed out that no convincing case for closure has been made by the authorities.

Emily Thornberry MP (Islington South and Finsbury)

Is my right hon. and learned Friend aware that NHS Islington is currently engaged in a so-called pre-consultation about the future of our greatly loved Whittington hospital? That so-called consultation is as chaotic and incoherent as it is alarming and wrong. Will he instruct NHS Islington to listen to local MPs and the public and dismiss any suggestion that Whittington A and E and maternity unit should close?

Mike O’Brien (Minister of State (Health Services), Department of Health)

As my hon. Friend knows, I have said in a debate on the Floor of the House in December that I have concerns about what is happening in relation to the Whittington. She has fought a strong fight on the issue and spoken to me about it on several occasions. We need to see strong clinical evidence for any change to the status of the Whittington. It is being discussed locally, but the national clinical advisory group will need to look at any case put forward. It is local now, but we have invested £32 million in the Whittington, much of it in A and E, and unless the case for change is established, there will be no change. At the moment I am not convinced of the need for the Whittington A and E to close. Those discussing these things need to know that. I have serious concerns about it and I would want to see a serious clinical case made for saying that the £32 million that the Government have decided to invest in the Whittington should be overridden. I do not see any justification for closure of the A and E at this time, and I would want to hear the case for closing it during the next Parliament. I have seen no such case.

Read more from the debate here.

Now that the NHS officials’ review of the Whittington is even being criticised by the Health Minister, it is surely time for the uncertainty to end and to save the Whittington and its A&E.

Emily Thornberry, Parliament

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Thousands of people joined the Save the Whittington demonstration on Saturday February 27th.

The march, which was called by the Defend the Whittington Coalition, travelled from Highbury Corner to the Hospital. Speakers including MPs

Emily Thornberry and Jeremy Corbyn and Gary Heather of Islington Trades Council rallied the crowd and campaigned against any closure.

Here are some pictures of the day.

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Come to the Demonstration to save the Whittington and its A&E dept on Saturday 27 February.

The demo starts from Highbury Corner at 12pm and will march to the Whittington itself.  Come along and show your support for our local hospital – join your local MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Emily Thornberry.

More details from the Defend the Whittington coalition

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Kaya Makarau-Schwartz, a volunteer for the save the Whittington campaign, writes a background guide to the proposals on the Whittington.

The Whittington Hospital serves 250,000 in the boroughs of Islington and Haringey from parts of Barnet and Camden. It has benefited from large amounts of investment over the few years these include, £30 million on a new wing including an Intensive Care unit. Also, the refurbishment of the maternity unit which includes a new birth centre, a neonatal intensive care unit that was expanded through an investment of £600,000 and a new £500,000 paediatric A&E unit was opened in 2008.

The Hospital employs 2000 members of staff and has a 400 bed capacity. In 2009 they treated 20,000 inpatients 16,000 day cases and saw 233,000 outpatients. The maternity delivered 3683 babies and the Accident and Emergency department treated 80,000 people. The Whittington also has very high levels of bed occupancy. The Hospital is sited in a densely populated area and is near major transport intersections.

The North Central London services and organisational review (covering Barnet, Camden, Haringey and Islington) has been looking at the implications of the Framework for action – Healthcare of London report. This has included services under the remit of Islington PCT including the Wittington Hospital. The report published by the review looked at the Clinical Advisory groups consideration of models set out in the framework and concluded that in the North Central London region there should only be three Major Acute Hospitals two of which are proposed to be in Camden and two local hospitals.

The review did not consider the Whittington in the short list as a major acute hospital which would have major implications on the existing services at the Wittington and the populations they serve.

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Background, Kaya Macarau-Schwartz, Whittington

There were two points made at the public meeting on Monday which I thought were very important:

1) Government policy is to keep an A&E department at the Whittington: Health Care for London, the government strategy for the future of the London NHS lists the Whittington as a local hospital and says that all local hospitals should have an A&E department, intensive care unit and maternity unit. If NHS London do come up with plans to close the Whittington A&E they will be breaking government policy.

2) The whole process might turn out to be unnecessary: NHS London tell us that they need to save money to close a blackhole in their funding in future years. But this worry is based on a projection of how much money they might get from future governments, and how much health services might cost to deliver in 10 years time, and both of these are very difficult to predict. For example, the growth in obesity seems to be slowing much quicker than expected, which will save the NHS a lot of money. Equally, if we keep moving quickly out of recession tax revenues will be up and there will be more money for the NHS. It seems daft to start the process of making massive decisions about the future of health services in North London now when we are in a very uncertain political and financial context.

Whatever happens NHS London did say that they will not agree any ‘options’ for the Whittington until the late Summer and will not consult until the Autumn, so we have plenty of time to build the campaign to tell NHS London that the Whittington must keep its major services.

Dazi, Health Care for London

Here is a few, quickly edited, short clips of the Save the Whittington meeting last night. Lots more to follow later.

Archway, Public Meeting

We are now approaching 2,000 signatures on the online petition to save the Whittington – have you added your name yet?

But we need your help.  We need to show how strong the local support for the Whittington Hospital is, and that is why we want to reach 2,000 signatures before the end of January.  Click here to signing the petition to Save the Whittington Hospital

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Come to the Save the Whittington public meeting called by Jeremy Corbyn MP on Monday 25th January 2010 at 7.00pm.

The meeting will take place in Archway Methodist Church. You can find a map to the venue here.

The meeting is to organise our campaign and to get answers to the questions we asked NHS Islington last year.

And don’t forget, if you haven’t already signed the petition, please click here.

Public Meeting

A quick post to note that more than 1000 people have now signed our on-line petition to save the Whittington.

Thank you to everyone who has supported this campaign so for and please encourage your family, friends and work colleagues to sign up as well.

Do read today’s Islington Tribune for more coverage of our public meeting earlier in the week: http://www.islingtontribune.com/news/2009/dec/save-our-hospital

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