Handing in giant petition to Dept of Health 30.1.13 Photo Simon Way
TOTAL SIGNATURES COLLECTED ON MAIN PETITION HANDED IN TO DEPT OF HEALTH ON 30th JANUARY 2013
51,854
Picture: Simon Way
The petition is now closed. Thank you to all who signed it online and on the streets.
And thanks to all who signed our hundred foot petition.
Hunt didn’t listen to us – but the campaign and hosptial are carrying on the fight in many other ways.
There is a petition against PFI here
This A&E has saved countless lives. The cost of closing it cannot be overstated, however the tories try and spin it. We must fight for this with every last breath, because contrary to what some might think, we ALL deserve good healthcare.
How do you justify closing down a hospital that has no fault to save other? What happens to the people that use the hospital due to the zoning area? Is distance not an issue to visit relatives in hospital or in an emergency to get to the hospital?
Whilst we should all support this Campaign.
we should all be very Clear that the reason for this Crises was the PFI funding policy introduced by the Last Labour Goverment that has lead to this mess, so it is a bit rich Labour seeking to jump on the save Hospital Bandwagon.
i bin GOING TO LEWISHAM HOSPITL FOR 20 YEARS AND I SILL KEEP
GOING TO LEWISHAM I HAVE GOT COPD ANG THE LAST TIME I WAS THERE
WAS ON WEDNSDAY THE 1/10.12 AND THE MEDICAL STAFF ARE SO VERE HELPFULL THERE HELP ME A LOT IN A&E ANG EVRE 6 M0TH I GOT TO
GO TO THE CHEST CLINC IN SUITE 5 ON TUESDAY 6/10/12A AT 11 20
YES THIS TUESDAY IF YOU WANT TO CLOSE ANY HOSPITAL LET IT BE
MAYDAY AT CROYDON HOSPITAL NOT LEWISHAM UNDERLIND OR LET SOME
OFF THE FAT CATS GO .BUT KEEP LEWISHAM OPEN OK MR GRAHAM EDWARDS
This is insanity. Given the growing population in Lewisham, the lack of parking in new developments and the general poverty levels in most of the Borough. We all need something local. If you add to this our money that has been spent on on the redevloment of the hospital over the last few years, who ever came up with this plan should be sectioned under the Mental Health Act
I have relied on Lewisham hospital for years, they are keeping me going, It is insane to think of closing any part of it, why should we take the blame for other hospitals mistakes
the service at Q E hospital is bad enough now with out more people at the a and e the hospital wont be able to cope
Ridiculous to see this kind of closure request on A&E. It’s not a casino to make money out of it. It’s a service to people during A&E.
This ‘government’ proposal is only to be expected. All those uninformed folk who voted Tory just didn’t read between the lines, which everyone with half a brain should do when considering ANY political party for power. The millions spent upgrading and refurbishing L.U. Hospital brought hope and satisfaction, not only to residents, but all who witnessed it. I have friends and family dotted all over the capital [and further out] who are frequent visitors to my home in Catford. If any of them were to be taken seriously ill or have an accident locally, Lewisham Hospital is the logical first stop. So the catastrophe of closure of this hugely important facility would affect a much wider raft of people than us locals. I thoroughly agree with Carl’s sentiments. So, let’s stand up and with one united voice shout, “Hands Off Lewisham Hospital”!!!!!
I have recently been treated at the A&E dept. & can say that without their care & professionalism I may well not be here now. their treatment was exemplary & a shining example of the NHS at it’s best. It seems tantamount to madness that they are even considering closing it down, what would the consequences be for it’s University status if parts are just lopped off it ad hoc? I thought outside consultants were meant to be dispassionate & display a modicum of joined up thinking,…well that has not been evident in this case…Crazy idea!!!!
Ten years ago i would have said yes close it,but in those ten years it has gone from being the worst to the best and i know because i have been in several a&e’s numerouse times and believe me lewisham is now the best .The rerason i say this is because of the staff wheather or not they care i do not know BUT THE POINT IS THEY COME ACROSS AS IF THEY CARE and this on its own makes all the difference when you are in a life threatening situation plus the fact there a&e is now brand new that is the reason that SLHT is bankrupt and lewisham is not.
Our hospital is a good teaching hospital. It is the only local hospital in our ares and the public do not need to be deprived of its services.
Currently the Lewisham A & E hospital provide a service, that needs to be improved. So why play with people’s life.
If you value people’s life then please retain the A & E services.
We should have the love God in our heart always, so retain A & E.
Many thanks
Lenrick
Currently the Lewisham A & E hospital provide a service, that needs to be improved. So why play with people’s life.
If you value people’s life then please retain the A & E services.
We should have the love of God in our heart always, so retain A & E.
Many thanks
Lenrick
Lewisham a&e saved my life too, it would be a crime to close it, the person who came up with this idea should be immediatly committed to the highest security mental health hospital and the key thrown away! Haven’t the government done enough damage to the every day person! SAVE LEWISHAM A&E, do not let them close it, what would all the people in and around lewisham do without the a&e, well i suspect many accident victims would simply die!!! How dare they play with lives like this, and i thought we lived in a civilised society, more like third world, its insane.
Lewisham is a brill hospital with low mortality rates and has won awards for its cleanliness, I have worked there twice and visited its A&E department a good few times, once when I had meningitis.. It is a local hospital for local people and just because others are in trouble it doesn’t mean its the one that should suffer / close down.
@catford_se6
http://www.catford.co.uk
Have your say on the Catford forum.
I’m so annoyed that we would lose our A&E dept in order to pick up the bill at other hospitals! PRUH is a crap hospital anyway if its in debt sell it so it can pay its own debt. No way not lewisham they have picked a fight with the wrong brough!!
I had my life saved load’s of times by staff at lewisham hospital and i go to the chest clinic regular so it is important to me, i have been to A&E many times and it’s always packed so to think of closing it down is absurd! We need a call of war, we need to save our hospital before it’s too late! Remember sydenham children’s hospital? When they shut that they said don’t worry lewisham has a children’s department? Now they want to shut that?? Please help sign the petition or march with us or both! Thanks
This closure will have serious social and historical implications. This hospital is the heart of the community. To close down all these units and sell 60% of the buildings is outrageous, we will be left with no fully operational ‘hospital’ in the borough of Lewisham. The nearest will be Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woolwich, very awkward to get to. What about young mothers with young children, the sick and the elderly! I have visited many friends/relatives in Lewisham Hospital over the years, now I have to travel all the way to Woolwich, ridiculous!
I am diabetic and have been in so many comas if this hospital closes by the time an ambulance will get to me I WILL probably die.. This is ridiculous when the government is,suggesting spending millions on maternity wards. To start having double beds for partners to be staying in maternity wards its sick
Given the massive expansion of lewisham’s population thanks to all the new building developments. The need for A and E in lewisham can only rise. Locality to patients has to be important in saving lives.
All the recommendations are absolutely crazy. Does this so called “special administrator” know anything about what hospitals are for, He needs reminding that they are there to serve the population, not for financial wide boys to play around with. It is very obvious that this is another step towards privatisation and that there are already private interests waiting on the sidelines ready to take over. The answer is No No No. Lewisham Hospital is a fine public service which should stay a public service and no part of it should be handed over to profit-making private enterprise.
As for closing the A and E. What madman could ever think this one up. Has he bothered to find out exactly how many patients pass through the present A and E every year. How could any other hospital deal with all of them as well as their own existing in-take. Also, how does he think that people from the farthest areas of Lewisham are going to travel to Queen Elizabeth
or any other hospital for emergency treatment when they are feeling ill and have to wait around for unreliable buses! He should try it himself.
It is also very obvious that the consultation exercise is not intended to result in the scuppering of the administrator’s and government’s privatisation initiative. If Queen Mary’s Sidcup is allowed to become a ‘Health Campus’ with private companies tendering for such crucial contracts as running mental health services, this is what will become the model for further outsourcing in Greenwich and Lewisham, whether it makes sense or not. I have a sneaking feeling that the A&E campaign in Lewisham might just be allowed to succeed to placate local protest, and deflect us from the other issues. All this would require is for the proposed ‘Urgent Care Centre’ to be called A&E on paper, after all. This is how politics tends to work.
The more I think about it the more I feel that we must give as much energy to protecting Maternity and other departments. No amount of petitioning will achieve this – we need to give active support to health workers for all our sakes. Who are the companies most likely to try to cash in? Short of the government actually allowing the South London NHS Trust to go bankrupt – which would be the proper result for a business investment going tits up – how can we deter profiteers from becoming parasites on our hospitals?
Pingback: Save Lewisham A & E: Pictures from Demonstration | Shahrar for London
I am a resident of this great community. I find it appalling and absurd for this” CONDEM Govt”to think of closing Lewisham A&E,Maternity services and surgery services.Don’t put profit before people cos each year lewisham hospital deliverd more than 4000 babies my child included.treat over 100000.A&E every year.Pls PFI & Jeremy Hunt should hands off Lewisham hospital. Thank you!
Pingback: Unfair, dangerous, unbelievable... Hunt's death clock ticks down on Lewisham Hospital | Left Foot Forward
we are in lewisham , we are proud to be in lewisham, I have 4 children born in lewisham hospital, they received the highest care, and met the kindest people!
it will be nice for them when they grow up to say we were born here, not the place we were born in was demolished!!
SAVE LEWISHAM A&E!
This is complete and utter madness.
Keep our London communities growing and thriving and DO NOT CLOSE THIS HOSPITAL!
No UK Government (nor that of any other country which is also a UN Member State) has the right to effectively destroy the right to basic health care, whether emergency or otherwise.
These rights were enshrined in the International Bill of Human Rights from 1948 onwards. Please see this petition at http://you.38degrees.org.uk/p/bill-of-rights and support it too, and spread the word about it to others.
One of these Article of rights included these words in 1948:-
“Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control”.
That applies to many of the Tory parties attacks on, or by those who are currently responsible for, the NHS; the DWP and all kinds of benefits which affect the enjoyment of any of the rights included in the International Bill of Rights.
Likewise any Court which ignores those rights and instead looks only at UK Laws, is also breaking International Treaty Law by doing so. Ask the lawyers to fight on these grounds and see what they say.