tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91120317867641759732024-03-05T03:30:04.947-08:00The Official Keep Our St Helier Hospital Party BlogUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9112031786764175973.post-74472767015986583412015-11-11T03:07:00.001-08:002015-11-11T03:07:54.015-08:00Diary date! Save St George's Urogynaecology services!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtiV_w-ORcasgw8gWMsantrb-qPNMxi-xENcvgcsj8FYMmpKIOQxgkHfS4hGK6U0uOfgrlBXXx3HbiA_3db2YR32qz2_3PwlessmB4Xqib_ir8awYEKryzO-1ao75_LtyBppBbyqd49Gg/s1600/heart-cardiogram.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtiV_w-ORcasgw8gWMsantrb-qPNMxi-xENcvgcsj8FYMmpKIOQxgkHfS4hGK6U0uOfgrlBXXx3HbiA_3db2YR32qz2_3PwlessmB4Xqib_ir8awYEKryzO-1ao75_LtyBppBbyqd49Gg/s320/heart-cardiogram.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Tomorrow night - <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2107674563" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">Thursday 12 November - at 7.30pm</span></span>, there will be a Wandsworth Borough Council meeting at the Wandsworth Town Hall on the topic of the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">closure of the Urogynaecology departments at St George's Hospital</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">. Patients will have to travel to Croydon instead.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">Click <a href="http://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/news/13889704.St_George_s_Hospital_urogynaecology_department_faced_with_closure_after_lead_consultant_steps_down/">here</a> to read more about this threat to vital health services.</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">This week, members of the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">SW London branch of Keep Our NHS Public</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"> agreed to attend this meeting to protest against the closures. The plan is to meet at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_2107674565" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">7pm</span></span> at the office of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">the opposition leader Rex Osborne (on first floor of Town Hall). The full address of the Town Hall is </span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Wandsworth High Street (at junction with Fairfield St), SW18 2PU.<br /><br />Everyone is welcome to join this vital action against possible further cuts to local healthcare.</span><span class="HOEnZb" style="font-family: 'Franklin Gothic Medium', sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;"><span style="color: #888888;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9112031786764175973.post-46366262831865101582014-05-28T04:52:00.001-07:002014-05-28T04:52:39.786-07:00Answers to our questions for the Epsom-St Helier Trust uncensored!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The election campaign is over but the fight to ensure the future of St Helier Hospital and all other vital healthcare services in South-West London continues. While the KOSHH Party didn't win any seats on Merton or Sutton councils, the candidates all did well in the polls, campaigned hard, raised awareness about our health services among countless people and made St Helier Hospital and the role local councillors can play in ensuring its future a bona fide election issue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">During the campaign, we put a <a href="http://koshhparty.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/some-important-questions-for-epsom-st.html">series of questions</a> to the Epsom-St Helier Trust after we felt <a href="http://www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/archive/2014/04/28/11173944.Services__here_to_stay__at_St_Helier__pledges_new_chief_executive/">this interview in the Wimbledon Guardian</a> with the trust's new Chief Executive raised more questions than it answered. At last, we have answers to our questions. Here they are, posted without futher comment and completely uncensored.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Firstly, I would like to say thank you for submitting these questions to us. We know that you </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">are passionate about St Helier Hospital, and – having met some of your candidates at the public </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">listening event we held in Merton earlier in the year – we hope that you can already see how </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">committed we are to openness and transparency, as well as the day job of providing high quality </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">care to our patients. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our absolute priority is to provide great care to every patient, every day – and over the last three </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">years we have performed very strongly against the standards the government expects of us. At the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">same time, we have made great headway in overcoming a significant deficit of almost £20 million </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and we plan to break even this year. That is an incredible achievement, and something that we as a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Trust are very proud of.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, we also understand that our estate is of great importance to local people, including our </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">patients, visitors and staff. As such, we have provided detailed answers to your questions below. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In addition, once the local elections are completed later this month, we would like to invite you to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">visit St Helier, meet with our Chief Executive and go through any of the detail.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Has the calculation of £78 million for upgrades to St Helier Hospital allowed for inflation over the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">next five years?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The proposed investment of £78 million will be used across our hospitals, and is based on what </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">our analysis shows we can afford during the next five years, whilst still meeting our financial </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">obligations (such as paying staff and purchasing equipment). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As such, within this proposed figure we will need to allow for VAT (where we cannot reclaim it), </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">professional fees, and any inflation to the costs involved in construction. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As always, we will make sure that we are getting the best value for money, so that our patients </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and the taxpayer will receive maximum benefit from any investment that we make.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Given that 12m has already been spent, can we please be told what this money has funded?</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every year, we spend approximately £9 million on improving and maintaining our hospital buildings </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">as well as funding new state-of-the-art equipment.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the last year alone, we saw benefits at all of our sites from improvements to the roof at Epsom </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Hospital, to new equipment in the operating theatre at St Helier. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can see a full breakdown of previous plans at www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk/investments.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In addition to the £9 million of improvements we funded last year, we were also awarded £4.5 </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">million from the NHS Trust Development Authority to fund service transfers from Sutton Hospital to </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">our two main sites (including the necessary improvement works at Epsom and St Helier). </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This has allowed us to create a combined outpatient department in Ferguson House and a new state </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of the art urology centre at Epsom, while improving the existing facilities at Sutton for blood-testing </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">clinics, pain and chronic fatigue clinics and increasing the capacity of our car parks at both of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">main sites.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The major refurbishment projects included:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• Completion of the urgent care centre at St Helier;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• £450,000 on general ward upgrades, including refurbishing the coronary care unit and the </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">kitchen on Buckley ward at Epsom Hospital; </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• £250,000 creating additional single rooms for patients at both Epsom and St Helier, </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">which offer increased privacy and help to protect our sickest patients from spreading or </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">contracting infections; </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• £1.1 million on general maintenance at St Helier Hospital, including replacing old windows </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">and roof maintenance across the hospital buildings;</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">• £100,000 on improving the system for piping gases (such as oxygen) to patients across </span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Can we please have a detailed breakdown of how the remaining £78 million will be spent? Is it a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">loan?</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Early plans for how we will spend the proposed £78 million are currently going through the process </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of being approved by our Trust Board as part of our five-year business planning process. As you </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">would expect, we are working closely with our clinical commissioning groups and the NHS Trust </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Development Authority during this process.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Investing such a significant amount of money into NHS services over a number of years requires </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">a rigorous process for individual business cases, including external approval when required. It is </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">likely that over the coming five years, there will be times when we will need to go through further </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">approval processes (particularly for the larger projects we undertake). As such, we are not in a </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">position to release a detailed breakdown at this stage. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">However, please be assured that – as in previous years – our plans will be targeted at improving </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">patient care either through new equipment, upgraded wards and facilities or specific projects </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">such as the creation of a new eye-unit at St Helier. We will keep the public informed of all major </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">upgrades as they progress.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Why is there no mention in the Sutton Guardian article of the role of Clinical Commissioning </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Groups (CCGs) in hospital spending? Given the CCGs have been assigned the task of reducing </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">spending across multiple hospitals in SW London, it seems curious that they are conspicuous by </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">their absence from the Sutton Guardian article.</span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As an acute Trust, we work really closely with all of our clinical commissioning groups and healthcare </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">partners, and our Chief Executive certainly did make reference to their important role in her </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">interview with the Sutton Guardian. We are always happy to talk to the Sutton Guardian though, so </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">if there are burning questions you think they should be asking, please do let them know.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9112031786764175973.post-14308129154225137422014-05-21T11:12:00.002-07:002014-05-21T11:13:02.680-07:00Letterbox musings from our candidates<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If there's one thing every candidate can relate to on the campaign trail, it is the joys of letterboxes. As we all put pieces of paper through thousands of doors, we all get to know the letterboxes of the boroughs very well indeed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Frances Cornford, KOSHH Party candidate for Sutton West, writes: "Letterboxes I have known - such as the too-small letterbox. How is anyone supposed to post an A4 or A5 letter? The annoying vertically opening letterbox, the ground level letterbox - is it a good idea to make a postman grovel to deliver your mail? And, finally, the evil modern letterbox with layers of bristles and a too-strongly-hinged inner flap. Do you never wonder why your letters are always mangled? One more evening of leafletting to go! Hope you are all voting for someone NHS-friendly!"</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dave Ash, KOSHH Party Candidate for Cheam muses on some of the letterboxes he has seen on his travels across his ward:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Ooh, my back! Oh, and why has my bag swung around and is now in front of me?"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Six out of 10 for difficulty."</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjvuG9oUyHfUS53X0aXhStc7rqCoYkusPmvbUyAj_KDON_HpeaJ7EZgVVN7oT65BpknpyiOm0L5hvouup0JE5kCpE_zq3txZtILt8IDO1YfXNramOmF5SlhSCOyaQwyLVCbHwk0GHNJA8/s1600/box+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjvuG9oUyHfUS53X0aXhStc7rqCoYkusPmvbUyAj_KDON_HpeaJ7EZgVVN7oT65BpknpyiOm0L5hvouup0JE5kCpE_zq3txZtILt8IDO1YfXNramOmF5SlhSCOyaQwyLVCbHwk0GHNJA8/s1600/box+3.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></span></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Always the thrill of not knowing what side the hinge is on or how strong the spring might be."</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"Oh, how I love letterboxes like that!"</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But seriously, the KOSHH Party candidates would like to thank the people of the wards in which they are standing for taking the time to read the campaign material and think about the future of St Helier Hospital. It has been a long and tiring campaign but also a very rewarding one and we are delighted that so many people have been receptive to our message and are prepared to help fight for the future of all hospitals across Merton and Sutton.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Regardless of tomorrow's election outcome, we feel we have achieved so much over these past few weeks in ensuring St Helier Hospital and wider health services have become an issue and a talking point in this election.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9112031786764175973.post-5820514520063833522014-05-21T10:48:00.000-07:002014-05-21T10:52:41.796-07:00Twas the night before election day...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoZtjhT_NiDf_3E6XYuNV3zECGeasHXPZ10oYq__H4VIRXmxlxQoVlFtbbgXcKzvqpCiUO-XKim-jBj9BEDcVFj_Zd0bG9AyFH4S18XTxWm10sgeh6usm6ZQU37O1Mckb0_PZCWlAkI3o/s1600/KOSHH+PARTY+GROUP+%231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoZtjhT_NiDf_3E6XYuNV3zECGeasHXPZ10oYq__H4VIRXmxlxQoVlFtbbgXcKzvqpCiUO-XKim-jBj9BEDcVFj_Zd0bG9AyFH4S18XTxWm10sgeh6usm6ZQU37O1Mckb0_PZCWlAkI3o/s1600/KOSHH+PARTY+GROUP+%231.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">L to R: David Murray (Wallington South), Frances Cornford (Sutton West), Sandra Ash (Wimbledon Park), </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Dr Tiz North (Sutton South), David Ash (Raynes Park), Dave Ash (Cheam)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Twas the night before election day, and all over the borough</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Candidates are being incredibly thorough.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And the KOSHH Party is no exception</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Still campaigning until dawn's inception.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our candidates wish they were snug in their beds</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But St Helier Hospital thoughts fill their heads.</span><br />
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<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For they'll not rest until it is secure</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As a result, they've had much to endure.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Their feet are aching, they all need hot baths</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After walking the wards' endless footpaths.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Thousands of homes got leaflets through doors</span></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Explaining why healthcare is a councillor's cause.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our work has been hard thanks to many a Tory</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Whose letters to residents tell a different story.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -1em;">How do they know St Helier Hospital isn't under threat?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-indent: -1em;">The strategy announcement hasn't happened yet.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We still waiting on that, at least until June.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Will the CCGs change their tune?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Cuts to services are "very likely", they say.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Imagine if St Helier's A&E went away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And kids' services and renal and maternity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Gone from south London for all eternity.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Because of this, we can't stand idly by.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The KOSHH Party urges all councillors to try</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And fight for our hospital's survival.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We want unity here, we don't need a rival.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lib Dem, Labour, Tory, UKIP or Green</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Or any political stripe in between,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Every councillor can play their part.</span></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Don't tell us you don't know where to start.</span></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">You can lobby the CCGs - it's our money they spend.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We will fight for our hospital to the end.</span></div>
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<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If you have a party colleague who's an MP</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1em;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Lobby them too. Have them over for tea!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tell them about the concerns of people near you</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Who need the NHS, as we all do.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The KOSHH Party is committed to healthcare for all.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We will not take our eye off the ball.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Without our hospitals, there's a hole in the community.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But with loud voices and cross-party unity,</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Councils can play a vital role</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In ensuring there isn't a hospital-sized hole.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Without St Helier Hospital, life becomes rougher.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And, on top of all that, local businesses suffer.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Ambulances will spend longer in traffic.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For women in labour, this will cause havoc.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The hospital issue remains a hot button</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For all the good people of Merton and Sutton.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we can save the hospital, there will be jubilation.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">See you tomorrow at the polling station!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Photography by Paul McMillan</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9112031786764175973.post-10310070248733575262014-05-16T06:13:00.001-07:002014-05-16T06:21:02.531-07:00Our Sutton West candidate has received some interesting campaign literature...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQjVzP28_jBTujMOQI1hxDlhypCZr5EXMlALS9IG8mwku8Va8cehCzNf4QXdJntquN9Ppnid3TnYKU7ocSXtoouDxP2jshMJRJPBmS90XzaUlDBJEjo6Z_Qbqswe4aLFMOGvCdsI3_Bmc/s1600/FRANCES+CORNFORD.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQjVzP28_jBTujMOQI1hxDlhypCZr5EXMlALS9IG8mwku8Va8cehCzNf4QXdJntquN9Ppnid3TnYKU7ocSXtoouDxP2jshMJRJPBmS90XzaUlDBJEjo6Z_Qbqswe4aLFMOGvCdsI3_Bmc/s1600/FRANCES+CORNFORD.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Frances says: "</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When every party says they want to save St Helier and <br />brandishes their own petition, it is difficult to know what to believe."</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Frances Cornford, KOSHH Party candidate for Sutton West in the Sutton Council elections, discusses the election campaign literature that she has received in recent weeks:</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I’ve had a lot of election literature coming through my door in the last few weeks. Sutton South ward, where I live, is currently split between the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives with two Lib Dems and one Tory councillor. Lib Dem literature predominates and the claim to be fighting to save St Helier hospital looms large in their publications.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In one leaflet, they celebrate the demise of the Better Services Better Value review that proposed the closure of St Helier’s A&E, maternity, children’s hospital and renal services. Indeed they even give themselves the credit for saving the hospital claiming that: </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>"Sutton Lib Dems and Paul Burstow MP have been at the forefront of the campaign to save A&E, Maternity and Children’s units at St Helier. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>Their campaign and petition of over 19,000 signatures was a major part of the reason plans to close our services were dropped."</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In fact, Better Services Better Value was dropped because GPs in Epsom voted to remove themselves from the process and it had little to do with Liberal Democrats in Sutton. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Their leaflet also fails to mention that the current threat to St Helier is largely due to the vast top down reorganisation of the NHS and the £20 billion of so-called efficiency savings which Paul Burstow has helped to pilot through the House of Commons as a Junior Health Minister.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">After studiously ignoring the threat to St Helier in their early leaflets, the local Tories have now shamelessly jumped on the St Helier bandwagon. Perhaps having Dr Tiz North, running for the Keep Our St Helier Hospital Party in Sutton South has forced them to at least acknowledge the issue, although their promises are questionable to say the least.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Prospective Tory councillors pledge to continue the fight to protect St Helier and Conservative parliamentary candidate Paul Scully even has his own petition. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised by this breathtaking hypocrisy considering the Tories have lied consistently about their plans for the NHS. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">No more top down reorganisation, no cuts, no more closures of A&E and maternity units are just some of the election promises that were ripped up as soon as they got into power. Still, I am constantly astonished by the level of mendacity required to claim you are trying to save your local hospital while the party you represent destroys the entire health service. At the very least, the Sutton and Merton Conservative local government candidates should pledge to lobby their colleagues in Westminster over threats to our health services that will affect the whole community.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">When every party says they want to save St Helier and brandishes their own petition, it is difficult to know what to believe. All you can do is look at what they have actually done. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the last four years, the coalition government has passed a bill that removes the duty of the Secretary of State to provide a universal health service. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They have imposed £20 billion of cuts on the NHS so that £370 million of savings have to be made in South West London alone. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They have opened up the NHS to private companies, with 70% of new contracts going to private providers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They are closing down A&Es and maternity units across London. All this is being done with no discussion, no democratic mandate and no public consultation. While their leaflets may trumpet support for St Helier Hospital, the Tories and Lib Dems are dismantling the NHS. And no NHS means no St Helier Hospital as we know it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Photography by Paul McMillan</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9112031786764175973.post-41754170415345701832014-05-07T07:00:00.000-07:002014-05-07T08:18:02.857-07:00Clinical Commissioning Groups: Local bodies that need to be held to account by local people<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4LlkeHadFSbVQY6SGmAc2OSTIIvTXPwAQsp0lb8WOP7HxohcYrX7sV_XSqlOVyspFW1tt1usP8cbmBSTCv8mEOEJyknY1iLHvFwNa2PhsImHiZFWO_Ly997GYkCTFd6inUaBoM8XPK0k/s1600/pounds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4LlkeHadFSbVQY6SGmAc2OSTIIvTXPwAQsp0lb8WOP7HxohcYrX7sV_XSqlOVyspFW1tt1usP8cbmBSTCv8mEOEJyknY1iLHvFwNa2PhsImHiZFWO_Ly997GYkCTFd6inUaBoM8XPK0k/s1600/pounds.jpg" height="209" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) control how our money is spent in our local hospitals but few people know what they do or how they can be held accountable. This concerns Keep Our St Helier Hospital Party (KOSHH Party) candidates for Merton and Sutton enormously.</span></div>
<b id="docs-internal-guid-7ee926a5-d6c3-c814-6f3e-34fdf65de13b" style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></b>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The future of St Helier Hospital is not in its own hands - it is South West London CCGs who make the big decisions,” says Frances Cornford, who is running as a KOSHH Party candidate in the Sutton West ward. “The CCGs have to make £370m in cuts across SW London and their strategy won’t be revealed until June or July - after the local elections.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Does anyone know what CCGs are supposed to do?</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">CCGs are local bodies tasked with spending our money on our hospitals. This system can only be effective if the CCGs are transparent, the members of CCGs have no conflicts of interest, such as financial interests in private healthcare providers, and if their meetings are held in public, times, dates and agendas widely publicised and they are held at times which allow large numbers to attend.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Click <a href="http://www.swlccgs.nhs.uk/">here</a> for a link to the SW London CCG's website, representing CCGs from Merton, Sutton, Croydon, Kingston, Richmond and Wandsworth. If you scroll down to the bottom of the homepage, you can find links to the six CCG's websites and from there, you will then have to go through each individual website to find dates and times. Why does the SW London CCG website not act as a one-stop shop with a calendar of events for all its CCGs? </span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The SW London CCG response to this is: "CCGs are independent statutory bodies and advertise their own meetings on their own sites." But the SW London CCG website is used to share information on behalf of all CCGs on other matters. So why not CCG meeting times? Curiouser and curiouser...</span></span><br />
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Meeting times and dates seldom, if ever, appear in the local press, let alone on the SW London CCG website. This simply isn't good enough.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Does anyone know when their local CCG is next meeting?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Sutton CCG was meant to be meeting today, Wednesday 7 May, at 2pm. However, this has been postponed until June 18. As far as we know, the location will still be Priory Crescent, Sutton SM3 8LR and it will still be held at 2pm but it is difficult to find out information about any CCG meeting. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">KOSHH Party candidates are dismayed that meetings are poorly publicised by CCGs and the timings are inconvenient.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Holding a meeting at 2pm on a weekday means many people will be unable to attend, such as those who work full time or are looking after their young children during the day,” says David Murray, KOSHH Party candidate for Wallington South. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>So how come Surrey Downs CCG manages to be more accessible?</b></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.15; white-space: pre-wrap;">KOSHH Party candidates were interested to learn that Surrey Downs CCG, which publicly broke away from the failed Better Service, Better Value review, will be holding a public event in conjunction with Epsom and Ewell Conservatives on Tuesday 10 June at 7.30pm.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“This shows it is possible for CCGs to hold events in the evening when more people can attend,” says Dave Ash, KOSHH Party candidate for Cheam. “Why won’t our local CCGs learn from Surrey Downs and hold meetings at times when people are likely to be able to attend? Why would they make it difficult for so many people to attend?”. </span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>What can local councillors do about all this?</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">There is no reason why local councillors cannot play an important part in lobbying CCGs in defence of our local health services. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">If elected, KOSHH Party councillors will lobby local CCGs to better publicise their meeting times and venues and encourage more meetings in evenings and on weekends so that a broader cross-section of the community can attend. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">We will lobby for CCG meeting times to be advertised in all GP surgeries across Merton and Sutton.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">We will also continuously lobby CCGs for greater transparency, constantly remind them of the importance of preserving all vital services at St Helier Hospital, attend CCG meetings and publicly report on the meetings' outcomes. </span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">We urge all candidates to join us in these promises.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 17.25px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Photography by Petr Kratochvil</span></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9112031786764175973.post-42070371116994245052014-05-05T09:06:00.000-07:002014-05-05T09:06:00.393-07:00Celebrating International Day of the Midwife <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Today is International Day of the Midwife. On Twitter, people are celebrating these wonderful people by sharing stories of how they have brought so many people into the world safely and compassionately. And the midwives who work at St Helier Hospital are no exception - like so many midwives around the world, they bring new life into the world and save lives.</div>
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The standard of care by <a href="http://www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk/our-services/a-to-z-of-services/women-and-children/maternity/midwives-and-maternity-clinics/">St Helier Hospital's midwives</a> is outstanding. <a href="http://www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk/our-services/a-to-z-of-services/women-and-children/maternity/midwives-and-maternity-clinics/our-supervisors-of-midwives/">Leading the way</a> for mothers-to-be are Louise Simmonds, Sally Sivas, Suzanne Bouchard, Gina Brockwell, Heather Crosskey, Irene Eastwood, Jeanette Hennessy, Mandy James, Annette Hunter, Margaret Joyce, Siew Khoo, Helen McCrann, Maria Mills Shaw, Anne Walker, Neelam Worthington, Patience Ohikhena and Sher Morris.</div>
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On this very special day, the KOSHH Party candidates would like to take a moment to salute the fantastic maternity staff at St Helier Hospital and to pledge our ongoing support for the amazing work you do every day.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Illustration by Karen Arnold</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9112031786764175973.post-48934981428399315612014-05-05T08:03:00.000-07:002014-05-05T08:07:24.157-07:00Some important questions for the Epsom-St Helier Trust<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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World Press Freedom Day has been observed for another year. And, thanks to the internet, the good news is that it is getting easier to be part of the free press in Britain. While we were disappointed that the <a href="http://www.suttonguardian.co.uk/news/11173944.Services__here_to_stay__at_St_Helier__pledges_new_chief_executive/">Sutton Guardian profile</a> of Chrisha Alagaratnam, new Chief Executive of the Epsom-St Helier Trust did not include answers to important questions, we were heartened to see that people were keen to jump on board in the comments section and challenge the information in the article.<br />
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Over on Twitter, the KOSHH Party Twitter account (@KOSHHParty) asked Ms Alagaratnam a few questions in relation to the Sutton Guardian article. Originally £219m had been earmarked to fund improvements at St Helier and then it was announced that this would be reduced to £90m over five years. In the Sutton Guardian article, it said that £78m would be spent. So our first question was, quite simply, what's going on?<br />
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Ms Alagaratnam responded promptly thus: "£90m was at Feb 13/14. £78m is from the new financial year 14/15 for the next five years as we have already begun investing."<br />
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So that would mean that £12m has already been spent on upgrades to St Helier Hospital. Thus, we asked additional questions over Twitter. We received a tweet from the trust's communications department account requesting that we ask any further questions via email. Certainly over email, nobody is not limited to the 140-character format of Twitter for questions and answers but we prefer a more transparent approach.<br />
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With the principle of transparency as our guiding light, we publicly ask the following questions of the Epsom-St Helier Trust.<br />
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1. Has the calculation of £78m for upgrades to St Helier Hospital allowed for inflation over the next five years?<br />
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2. Given that 12m has already been spent, can we please be told what this money has funded?<br />
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3. Can we please have a detailed breakdown of how the remaining £78m will be spent?<br />
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4. Is this £78m in the form of a loan that will have to be paid back?<br />
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5. Why is there no mention in the Sutton Guardian article of the role of Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) in hospital spending? Given the CCGs have been assigned the task of reducing spending across multiple hospitals in SW London, it seems curious that they are conspicuous by their absence from the Sutton Guardian article.<br />
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We look forward to answers to these questions from the Epsom-St Helier Trust. Unlike Twitter, there is plenty of room for extensive responses in the comments section of this blog post.<br />
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If elected to Merton and Sutton Councils, KOSHH Party candidates promise to publicly hold all decision-makers to account in relation to the future of St Helier Hospital and urge all candidates to promise to do the same. We want to see a future in which Merton and Sutton councillors from across the political spectrum unite in support of our hospital. </div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9112031786764175973.post-75544896984599875702014-04-29T04:38:00.000-07:002014-04-29T04:38:24.920-07:00KOSHH Party candidates urge everyone to rock the vote!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWfcQz9wCiT4_5Ane0ttl7YhrqzYFsU4Uak1o8cG8CccIl0kVjfKOA7kfkQqMBstfg45me2Ml0VNEDxEpWaaggbkIid0CsnXeLEFxdT3jZW1j7iwBzQ97WVmpCtMG0TnQB6XAUgOcqnwA/s1600/hands-220163_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWfcQz9wCiT4_5Ane0ttl7YhrqzYFsU4Uak1o8cG8CccIl0kVjfKOA7kfkQqMBstfg45me2Ml0VNEDxEpWaaggbkIid0CsnXeLEFxdT3jZW1j7iwBzQ97WVmpCtMG0TnQB6XAUgOcqnwA/s1600/hands-220163_1280.jpg" height="235" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Keep Our St Helier Hospital Party (KOSHH Party) candidates urge everyone who is eligible to enrol to vote so they can participate in the May 22 local elections. </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“The deadline for registering to vote is May 6 and we encourage everyone who is serious about saving St Helier Hospital to register,” says David Murray, KOSHH Party candidate for Wallington South, in the Sutton local elections. “This is a great chance to tell all the main parties that the hospital is the biggest issue facing Merton and Sutton.” </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">If you haven't yet registered to vote, click on <a href="http://www.jointhevote.org/ero?source=76618bb9a31c552c">this link</a> - it is quick and easy to be part of this country's tradition of democracy. The KOSHH Party urges all voters in Merton and Sutton to think very carefully about who to support at the ballot box.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">David Ash, KOSHH Party candidate for Raynes Park in Merton, is disappointed by the <a href="http://www.mertonlibdems.org.uk/news-mainmenu-2/28-2012-news/230-local-election-manifesto-innovation-merton.html">Merton Liberal Democrat manifesto</a> for the forthcoming election. “There is not a single mention of St Helier Hospital in the Liberal Democrat’s Merton manifesto,” he says. “We agree that policies about safe streets, strong communities, heritage preservation and open government are important but without a commitment to preserving vital health services, such as St Helier Hospital, this rhetoric is meaningless.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">He adds: “Nobody voted for the top-down NHS reorganisation that David Cameron promised would not happen, nor for the sneaky contracting out of hospital services that is already happening at St Helier Hospital and all over England. You cannot trust the government or NHS England or the local Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to ensure services at St Helier and across the whole of the NHS remain free at point of need.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sandra Ash, KOSHH Party candidate for Wimbledon Park in Merton, says she is still waiting for an explanation from Conservative councillor, <a href="http://www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/archive/2014/04/07/11131910._St_Helier_Hospital_has_been_saved___says_leader_of_Merton_Conservatives/">Oonagh Moulton</a> as to why she thinks St Helier Hospital’s services are safe: “Given that the CCGs have said they intend to use the same flawed financial and clinical reasoning they used to justify the proposed downgrading of St Helier Hospital under the failed BSBV plan, it seems inevitable they will again come to the same flawed conclusion.” </span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.15; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Frances Cornford, KOSHH Party candidate for Sutton West, says: “We want all political parties running for office in these local elections to make a public commitment to preserving St Helier Hospital's services. We want cross-party support for our hospital at a local government level - this is the only way for our councillors that are aligned with the major parties in Sutton and Merton to send a strong message to their colleagues in Westminster.”</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9112031786764175973.post-77193402658930917272014-04-28T06:24:00.001-07:002014-04-28T06:32:02.733-07:00Why the St Helier Hospital Renal Unit is important<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Kidneys: They're not sexy but they are necessary...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Dr Tiz North, KOSHH Party candidate for Sutton South, tells us why St Helier Hospital's Renal Unit is an essential service for the local community.</b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In 1964, the Renal Unit opened at St.Helier hospital and dialysed it’s first two patients. It was one of the </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">first hospitals in the country to do so. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The unit was the brainchild of Dr Willie Rogers, father of the famous architect </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sir Richard Rogers. At that time there were only two consultants in kidney medicine and now there are</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">14 renal consultants supplying specialist advice at St Helier Hospital and to satellite units in the England's south-east.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From dialysing patients in kidney failure, it moved on to transplantation, a service which sadly has </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">since moved to St.George’s’. However surgeons still perform dialysis-related surgery at St Helier. This allows</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> patients in kidney failure to have extended lives.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Tucked away behind St Helier's Renal Unit is the South West Thames Renal Research Unit. This unit was </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">funded and built by charitable donations and is completely independent of any university or drug c</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ompany. It produces ground-breaking research into the causes of kidney disease, the knowledge of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">which then is used to produce new treatments. The research unit is of such high calibre that it has produced nine</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> PhD doctors, who have gone on to become renal consultants across the country with two of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">them working at St.Helier.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Renal Unit is indeed the jewel of the crown for St Helier Hospital as many of the patients it supports </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">will testify. However it is not a standalone unit insofar as the consultants support emergency </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">admissions in General Medicine as well as to the Renal Unit. These doctors are also on hand to give advice to the rest </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">of the hospital. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Residents of Sutton, Merton & Carshalton are very lucky to have a unit of </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">this calibre on their doorstep and long may it last. Let us hope that our local commissioners of healthcare</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> will realise this too. The councils of Merton and Sutton can both play an important role in lobbying commissioners to ensure this service remains at St Helier Hospital and is properly funded.</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9112031786764175973.post-68858670255851738732014-04-24T05:05:00.000-07:002014-04-24T06:19:51.462-07:00Dr Tiz North tells why she stands for St Helier Hospital<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The KOSHH Party Sutton candidates at St Helier Hospital. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">L to R: Frances Cornford, David Murray, Dave Ash and Dr Tiz North</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr Tiz North, a consultant radiologist at St Helier Hospital shares her statement of purpose about why she is running on the KOSHH Party ticket in the May 22 local elections.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I believe that the population surrounding Epsom and St Helier Hospitals deserve to be treated by a local hospital trust which has <i>all</i> the secondary services of an Acute District General Hospital.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>First, some background to the current situation facing St Helier Hospital...</b> Over the past 30 years, there have been constant attempts by politicians to close St Helier, an excellent hospital with a good reputation. This has sprung out of the belief that there are too many hospital beds in London and therefore several of the outer London District General Hospitals should close.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Indeed, there has been an overall reduction in the number of beds throughout the capital thanks mainly to modern technology which allows day case surgery and intervention by minimal techniques. These advances result in shorter hospital stays. This shift has been led by the clinicians performing these services. It has not been led by politicians. Likewise, the shift of tertiary services, such as transplantation, cardiac and vascular surgery, major trauma, neurosurgery, acute stroke services and paediatric surgery, have all been shifted out of Epsom and St Helier Hospitals. These services are now performed at St George's in Tooting. Again, this was all with the agreement of grassroots physicians.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>But what about the present situation?</b> Our two local hospitals, Epsom and St Helier, have been pared down to the essential core services. This includes busy A&E departments, Paediatrics, Maternity, General Surgery (including cancer surgery), Eye Surgery, Urology, Orthopaedics, General Medicine (including diabetes, renal services, palliative care, care of the elderly and dermatology). Because of this wide spread of specialties, both hospitals can cater for the majority of common surgical and medical conditions. This attracts high calibre junior doctors into the surgical and medical rotation schemes as well as students from St George's Medical School.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>What could happen in the future?</b> If any of the specialties, especially A&E, Paediatrics or Maternity, were removed from either Epsom or St Helier, a domino situation would arise. If there are no patients admitted to the wards for acute medical or surgical treatment via A&E, this means the hospital loses training recognition by the Royal Colleges and the withdrawal of junior doctors. These doctors would be replaced by doctors in non-training posts, mostly from abroad. A lack of patients means a lack of teaching cases and this would have a negative effect on the presence of medical students. The general downgrading of the hospital means it would not attract top quality consultants and overall patient care could suffer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Where would the patients be treated if St Helier Hospital was downgraded?</b> The Better Service, Better Value (BSBV) programme may be defunct in name but the SW London Collaborative Commissioning Groups (SWLCCG) is simply the programme's latest incarnation. This group believes that much of the work can be done locally in patients' homes and by GPs. This is despite the fact that GPs are already under too much pressure and more than 50% of GPs are women, many of whom want to work part-time. On top of this, there is not the back-up in the community because there is a shortage of district nurses. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>So, what would be the new reality for patients in our community? </b>In reality, what would happen is that more patients than ever would descend on St George's A&E in Tooting. The physicians there have been quite vocal about not wanting this to happen. This is understandable as they would like to concentrate on the tertiary services they already provide, as well as providing secondary services to their own local population. Like the area surrounding St Helier Hospital, the population around St George's Hospital is increasing.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Are there any solutions?</b> Epsom and St Helier Hospitals should not be subject to any further reconfigurations. Doctors should work with local Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to ensure that across the patch every attempt is made to reduce hospital admissions and shorten hospital stays by improving health and social care outside the hospital. In turn, CCGs should support their local hospitals and not reduce funding by such an amount that they become unviable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Both hospitals should look at their own practice to see how treatments can be improved by rapid investigation and timely intervention.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i><b>About Dr Tiz North:</b></i> <i>Dr North moved from Epsom to Sutton in 1982 and has lived in the same house in South Sutton since then. Both her children went to schools in the local area. She has been a consultant radiologist at St Helier Hospital since 1977 and was previously the Clinical Director of Diagnostic Imaging for Epsom and St Helier. Dr North was also chair of the Local Negotiating Committee. Currently, she is the Honorary Secretary of the SW London Division of the BMA and a member of Keep Our NHS Public.</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photography by Paul McMillan</span><i> </i></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9112031786764175973.post-22686091016145827712014-04-16T09:43:00.000-07:002014-04-29T07:06:14.326-07:00Could the Localism Act be used to save St Helier Hospital?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz-lefKV91qa2uPNkCOIAW79GOSMnX9E0Xm2gKOqqHqq1OYrFGNiIwATjRwut6Xo7exS0ovnikXQhW-cCwCyRZpdX7gq_ygxH6BdgRgFh0Dl3-jWXX657s_UbjNgsl5rdyV9CRvwbWhkM/s1600/cat-205757_1280.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz-lefKV91qa2uPNkCOIAW79GOSMnX9E0Xm2gKOqqHqq1OYrFGNiIwATjRwut6Xo7exS0ovnikXQhW-cCwCyRZpdX7gq_ygxH6BdgRgFh0Dl3-jWXX657s_UbjNgsl5rdyV9CRvwbWhkM/s1600/cat-205757_1280.jpg" height="228" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The internet: not just for pictures of cats...</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The internet can be a haven of trolls, some say it is only good for sharing pictures of cats, and anyone who has accidentally hit "Reply All" and broadcast something embarrassing to all their colleagues has probably cursed its very existence. But the internet can and should be our friend. Indeed, something that the KOSHH Party loves about the online world is the way it can be used to share ideas.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And one such great idea has come to our attention via the magic of Facebook. Charlie Mansell, a local campaigner, suggested that the <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/briefing-papers/SN06366/localism-act-assets-of-community-value">Localism Act</a> could be used to save the hospital. Under this act, St Helier Hospital could be deemed an "Asset of Community Value". Nominations cannot be made by individuals but they can be made by parish councils or groups with a connection to the community. There is no shortage of groups connected to the St Helier community and we are confident many of them would be interested in making such a nomination for the hospital. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The good news is that there is already an "Asset of Community Value" not too far from St Helier Hospital. In Crystal Palace, another great historic neighbourhood of south London, a <a href="http://www.croydonguardian.co.uk/news/11146820.Crystal_Palace_cinema_campaigners_celebrate__Old_bingo_building_becomes__community_asset_/?ref=mr">former bingo hall</a> is now such an asset. Campaigners hope that ultimately this building will become a cinema for the community.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But there is one obstacle to overcome before we get too excited about the prospect of saving our hospital using this law. The nomination needs the approval of the local council, which is Sutton Council in the case of St Helier Hospital. And Sutton Council is the freeholder for the site, which is a rather unusual situation indeed. We are all acutely aware that the St Helier Hospital site would be worth millions if it was ever sold off. Of course, selling off the site would be shortsighted and devastating to the community and, if elected, KOSHH Party councillors for Sutton would never support such a plan.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We challenge all candidates running for Sutton Council to pledge their support for a nomination for St Helier Hospital to be classified as an "Asset of Community Value" under the Localism Act. As the major parties prepare their manifestos for the Sutton campaign, we hope this will be something they all include as a promise to local residents.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Photography by clausjuntke</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9112031786764175973.post-24041369036253157592014-04-15T11:28:00.000-07:002014-04-29T07:06:36.394-07:00Sharing information in a few tweets? Not good enough!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBgDczbpiaEeWKBtuMoU5US1JpMHK7G-KF5Agf0z1rqGiolveUfgI7LmshjyPlzqYnADdj-NKr4FhGP8qB25i3nEZlqO3mZweCFIC8lgb-Mm4eqc8nLAMOxYe9BgHpp462vjyGE6vOZ6g/s1600/DR+TIZ+NORTH.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBgDczbpiaEeWKBtuMoU5US1JpMHK7G-KF5Agf0z1rqGiolveUfgI7LmshjyPlzqYnADdj-NKr4FhGP8qB25i3nEZlqO3mZweCFIC8lgb-Mm4eqc8nLAMOxYe9BgHpp462vjyGE6vOZ6g/s1600/DR+TIZ+NORTH.jpg" height="221" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This week, the KOSHH Party called out the SW London Collaborative Commissioning Group (SWLCCG)on letting slip some alarming information via Twitter and a link buried in their website.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was generally thought that in June, there would be an announcement about plans for local hospitals, including St Helier Hospital. This followed on from the disastrously wasteful Better Service, Better Value (BSBV) programme in which the "preferred option" was for St Helier to lose A&E, maternity, renal and paediatric intensive care departments.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But via their Twitter account, SWLCCG revealed that in June they will release a "five-year strategy to set the standards and outcomes commissioners want to achieve" and that "details of how they achieve them will be the next step."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Dr Tiz North, KOSHH Party candidate for Sutton South challenges SWLCCG, saying that these tweets raise more questions than they answer.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">She asks SWLCCG: "Is this a case of BSBV in a new guise? Will the CCGs come up with the same strategy via slightly different means, such as applying the unrealistic London Quality Standards?".</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In short, St Helier Hospital is not safe. It may seem on the surface that this sort of delay and obfuscation by the SWLCCG is helpful. After all, it delays any definite announcements about closing vital services and no Coalition MP wants to go into the 2015 General Election with the threat of a massive hospital closure hanging over their heads.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But it's not that simple. There have already been cuts to services at St Helier - there is just one paediatric ward with others moved to Epsom General Hospital and Ferguson House, which was to be the winner with the now-abandoned £219m refurbishment is a shell of its former self. Add to this creeping privatisation at St Helier, such as G4S winning a £3.5m contract for driving the hospital's non-emergency ambulances, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/amputee-dies-in-g4s-ambulance-due-to-insufficient-staff-training-8527221.html">despite one of their ambulances being involved in a patient losing his life</a>, and it is clear to see we have a death by 1,000 cuts on our hands <i>before</i> any major cuts even happen or are announced.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As Dr Tiz North said, "unrealistic" standards could be applied to St Helier Hospital in the future which could potentially be used to justify a downgrading or, worse still, result in a closure under Clause 119 which gives the Health Secretary the power to close hospitals within 40 days.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This may seem like a rather lofty Westminster-level issue for a local election campaign but we need grassroots activism and action from concerned residents and from Merton and Sutton councillors from all the major parties. We call on Conservative and Liberal-Democrat candidates to challenge their colleagues in the House of Commons who voted for Clause 119 and to point out to them how it could potentially threaten hospitals across England, including St Helier Hospital.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Many thanks to Radio Jackie for breaking the news. Click <a href="http://www.radiojackie.com/news/">here</a> to read the story.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Photography by Paul McMillan</span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9112031786764175973.post-58247979426151193792014-04-14T11:55:00.002-07:002014-04-29T07:07:08.837-07:00Breaking news with the Wimbledon Guardian!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi66TsOxYyUjI0OGDzAf3G58gAx03hNuC4Q54PEnKo2TY3FO1jOo8q6R5CJIXs8qjcvKDVOdxsmmTm8KmBm_oF3yJGS43Gc5KNwATD3vrP7Xd66IqyzfAdhONonr1G_Ydbo70HUyERBTFg/s1600/newspapers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi66TsOxYyUjI0OGDzAf3G58gAx03hNuC4Q54PEnKo2TY3FO1jOo8q6R5CJIXs8qjcvKDVOdxsmmTm8KmBm_oF3yJGS43Gc5KNwATD3vrP7Xd66IqyzfAdhONonr1G_Ydbo70HUyERBTFg/s1600/newspapers.jpg" height="213" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The Keep Our St Helier Hospital Party (KOSHH Party) announced it was running six prospective candidates last month and we were delighted when the Wimbledon Guardian broke the story. The local Guardian newspapers have been very diligent in their ongoing coverage of the fight to save St Helier Hospital from cuts including A&E, maternity, renal and the children's hospital.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Click <a href="http://www.wimbledonguardian.co.uk/news/11139861.New_political_party_formed_to_save_St_Helier_Hospital/?ref=mr">here</a> to read the story on the Wimbledon Guardian website.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So far, we have had a very positive response to the announcement of the new party as well as a few interesting reactions (but that was to be expected...). </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The comments at the end of the Wimbledon Guardian article make for some interesting reading - and we must thank one Niki Rosenbaum, a Labour Party candidate, for her words of encouragement. The KOSHH Party welcomes and indeed encourages candidates from <i>all</i> political parties to show their support for St Helier Hospital in both word and deed.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Quite simply, we would like to see every candidate running for election for Merton and Sutton Councils publicly commit to supporting St Helier Hospital and fighting any cuts to vital services. For the candidates representing the major parties, we challenge them to lobby their colleagues in Westminster to support the hospital and, for those whose colleagues voted for Clause 119, we challenge local candidates to speak out against this decision. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Our announcement has generated some discussion on Facebook as well as via our new Twitter account. Be sure to follow us - our Twitter handle is @KOSHHParty</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9112031786764175973.post-86464785775952713982014-04-14T11:26:00.000-07:002014-04-29T07:07:26.970-07:00Introducing Britain’s newest political party!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr2Sptk7oavwe2JnEiwYpDhfpwnDyDsZP-HF7wk47nRrfkKpDx0Lsrjsdq7FSbHYX0y0BJmI0MaiFiRU7ryrO7pci5a1qDewi0iveZDNPKFRp42zyv-Q6OG5IawUCgBHf3zztDU2Od6z0/s1600/GROUP+%231.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr2Sptk7oavwe2JnEiwYpDhfpwnDyDsZP-HF7wk47nRrfkKpDx0Lsrjsdq7FSbHYX0y0BJmI0MaiFiRU7ryrO7pci5a1qDewi0iveZDNPKFRp42zyv-Q6OG5IawUCgBHf3zztDU2Od6z0/s1600/GROUP+%231.jpg" height="211" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 1.15; text-align: left; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The future of St Helier Hospital is the biggest issue facing residents of Merton and Sutton and this has motivated six residents to declare they are prospective candidates in the May 22 local elections representing the Keep Our St Helier Hospital Party (KOSHH Party). </span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Meet the KOSHH Party team:</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dr Tiz North (Sutton South Ward, Sutton): </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tiz has worked as a Consultant Radiologist at St Helier Hospital since 1977 and was previously the Clinical Director for Diagnostic Imaging for Epsom and St Helier. She has lived in Sutton since 1982.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Tiz says:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “It is so important that we defend all the services at St Helier Hospital - A&E, maternity, children’s services, renal, everything. It would be a disaster for all patients and for the local community.”</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">David Murray (Wallington South Ward, Sutton):</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">David has clocked up more than 25 years for IBM and as a local school governor. Married with three daughters, he now volunteers for St Raphael's Hospice, Age UK and CAFOD. He has lived in Wallington with his wife Anne for more than 40 years.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">David says:</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> "St Helier A&E were fantastic when I needed them recently and I want them there for future generations."</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Frances Cornford (Sutton West Ward, Sutton):</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Frances has lived in Sutton for more than seven years and really appreciates the value of having a good local hospital. She believes that local politicians in Sutton are not doing nearly enough to protect St Helier.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Frances says:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “Local politicians are full of warm words but little in the way of action. Being part of the Keep Our St Helier Hospital Party is a way to put pressure on politicians of all parties and make them realise how important our hospital and the NHS are to local people.”</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">David Ash: (Raynes Park Ward, Merton):</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> David is a father and grandfather and he has lived in the borough for 34 years. Now retired, he had a varied career in public service which included running a textile laboratory, training managers, drafting central policy and dealing with Parliamentary business.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">David says:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “I have lived during the best times the UK has ever known, in which the finest achievement was the creation of the most cost-effective health service in the world, paid for according to means and free according to need. I am determined to fight the attack on St Helier Hospital, which is part of the current giveaway of the NHS to private companies who will care nothing for the health and wellbeing of the nation.”</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sandra Ash (WImbledon Park Ward, Merton):</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sandra is a wife, mother and grandmother, and a retired tutor. She has lived in the borough for more than 30 years. She believes that the threat to vital services at St Helier Hospital, such as A&E, maternity, the children’s hospital and the renal unit, is the biggest single issue facing SW London. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Sandra says:</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “We want to raise </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">public awareness of this threat to St Helier Hospital and the whole community - it needs to stay on the political agenda. It is for that reason that I have decided to stand as a candidate for the Keep Our St Helier Hospital Party.”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dave Ash (Cheam, Sutton):</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dave has a young family, has lived in borough of Sutton for seven years, and has lived in the area for most of his life. Whenever members of his family have used St Helier Hospital, they have always had excellent care, and he knows that they are not alone in this regard.</span></span></div>
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></b>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Dave says:</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> “I believe that the high quality care at St Helier Hospital represents great value to the taxpayer - the whole community will suffer if we lose any of these services. I oppose any privatisation of NHS services - it is a national asset worth fighting for.”</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-size: x-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Photography by Paul McMillan</span></span></div>
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