Protest Planned at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust's AGM
Campaigners urge people to join them at St Paul's Church at 4.45pm today
Save Our Hospital campaigners are planning to protest at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust's AGM, taking place today, Wednesday September 14 from 4.45pm at St Paul's Church, Queen Caroline Street in the centre of Hammersmith.
The campaigners are urging local people to join them and make their voices heard in support of local health services and against hospital closures.
The AGM starts at 5.45pm, with doors opening from 5.15pm and supporters will be going into the meeting to listen and ask questions at the end.
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust says:"The event will be an opportunity for us to share our annual accounts, as well as the highlights and challenges of 2015/16. We will also be sharing some thoughts about the year ahead. In addition to our speaker programme, there will be an opportunity to ask questions of the Trust’s board members."
However, Save Our Hospitals campaigners say: " Spin doctors have tried for five years to persuade people in NW London to accept the closures of Charing Cross and Ealing Hospitals calling it Shaping a Healthier Future; the project will cost an incredible £1.3 billion.
"Since it's clear that nobody believes losing 500 plus local beds and cutting face to face appointments by 40% is good for their health, they've renamed the closures a Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP). There are now STPs across England all based on the NW London model - all aiming to close hospitals, all claiming community services will cope, all putting balancing budgets before patient safety.
"Despite the millions spent on advertising most people are still determined to keep both Charing Cross and Ealing open as acute general hospitals serving their communities. The councils of Hammersmith and Fulham and Ealing were elected with strong mandates to oppose the STP plans and have quite rightly refused to sign them warning that they are 'about the breaking-up and selling-off of the NHS'.
" As a result there's a suggestion that both councils could be penalised with reduced access to social care funding and policy making forums. This would be completely undemocratic and unfair."
You can find out more about the Save Our Hospitals campaign on its website.
September 13, 2016
