By Jeremy Corbyn MP
From the Islington Tribune
The Whittington Hospital’s accident and emergency unit treated 80,000 people last year.  These patients walked through the door or were driven there with a blue-light ambulance and received first-rate treatment from highly dedicated staff.

A few miles away, similar numbers were treated at an A&E unit at the Royal Free and across the road from Euston station is the new University College London Hospital, which treated more than 130,000.

The heart of any hospital is its A&E unit.  It enjoys the expertise of brilliant and committed people, providing the back-up for operations and services throughout the building.  The Whittington unit has been completely refurbished in the last few years and is extremely well run and popular.

Indeed, beyond that, Whittington Hospital, with all its history as (originally) a smallpox hospital and a place of support long before the National Health Service was established, has had the new Royal Northern Wing constructed and the wonderful new wards and entrance leading onto Magdala Avenue.  It is something the hospital and the community are rightly proud of. Its popularity with local doctors means that last year, like previous years, was extraordinarily busy. 

There is, however, a very large cloud on the horizon.  NHS London is trying to reduce the amount of money spent on acute hospital services throughout each of the capital’s sub-regions.

Islington is in the region that includes Camden, Haringey, Barnet and Enfield.

The area includes six major hospitals: Chase Farm, Barnet General, UCLH, North Middlesex and the Royal Free as well as the Whittington Hospital.

A consultation is to be undertaken on future hospital provisions.

The regional planners are working on the assumption that UCLH and the North Middlesex will continue to be the major hospitals for the region, and they are intending to look at future A&E provisions, including that of the Whittington and the Royal Free.

I am very concerned that the idea of  closing the A&E unit of the Whittington should reach any agenda of long-term planning.

I understand that primary care trusts are going to start considering options in January.  The loss of the Whittington A&E and its support for 80,000 patients would mean there would be no A&E provision anywhere between Euston Road and the North Circular.

This would leave the residents of Islington, Haringey and a large part of Barnet with no local provision at all.

Many people have contacted me to express their affection and support for our hospital, and their admiration and support for the principle of our National Health Service – free at the point of use to all.

On December 9 I shall be chairing a public discussion about the Whittington at the Methodist Central Hall, Archway Close, Archway.

I have invited local organisations, the Whittington Hospital and NHS Islington to come to that meeting to allow a serious discussion and explain that funding of the health service comes from taxation and all of us have a responsibility to enture it is effectively and efficiently provided at a local level.

Out local hospital does just that and I want to see any threat removed so that it can continue in this way.

I have raised the matter in Parliament and MPs from all parts of north London are signing a motion on it.

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