Cats on the prowl to save the Whittington Hospital

Published: 15 April 2010
by TOM FOOT

HUNDREDS of campaigners, some dressed as cats, are expected to protest across Camden and Islington later this month in a second “day of action” in support of the Whittington Hospital.

School teachers, religious leaders, doctors and union chiefs have signed up for a series of eye-catching events ending with a rally in the Whittington forecourt in Magdala Avenue on April 29.

Details of the protest were hammered out at a campaign meeting on Monday – but organisers are hoping many new campaigners will come forward and help “Save the Whittington”.

Shirley Franklin, co-chair of the Defend Whittington Hospital Coalition (DWHC), said: “Some people are going to dress up as cats and there will be cat masks. There will be events happening at the surgeries, and candles will be lit at churches for the Whittington. 

“We will be launching balloons in the hospital forecourt. We’re hoping to have music and there will be speeches at the rally. I have invited the Health Minister Mike O’Brien and the shadow health secretary Andrew Lansley.” She added: “We are hoping as many people can come and enjoy themselves. Anyone who wants to participate by staging an event should contact us.”

It will follow another major public meeting of NHS health workers to be held in the Archway Methodist Hall on April 22.

The DWHC are determined to keep the Whittington campaign high up the agenda in the run up to the local and general election on May 6.

They want to build on the march in February that drew thousands to the streets in a powerful show of support for the Highgate hospital.

The second day of action, on Thursday April 29, follows three television news appearances this week – including a feature in a BBC Newsnight debate on health cuts between the three main parties’ senior health spokesmen.

The threat to the Whittington Hospital’s A&E first emerged after details of closure proposals were leaked in November.

Despite widespread condemnation, Rachel Tyndall, the chief executive of the North Central London sector NHS trust, says she is determined to press ahead with her review.

She said last month that the concept of shifting services out of five hospitals in north London and into community settings – many of which have not been built yet – had been approved following a public consultation in 2007.

Ms Tyndall, according to a recent update from NCL, is now working to a blueprint where there are two major acute hospital sites, UCLH and Royal Free Hospital, and “a maximum of two local hospitals”.

She is deciding what services should be in the Whittington, which has been designated as a local hospital.

Among the three options is a hospital without an A&E, intensive care and maternity unit. Her decision on what gets cut is expected to go out for consultation in September.