HOSPITALS
90% disagree with
plans to close A&E
departments
90% disagree
with plans to cut
500 hospital
beds
n 94% believe one of the
essential features of an A&E should
be to treat major injuries or conditions
n 92% agree blue light ambulances is
an essential feature of A&E units
n 82% have not at all/not much been
involved in the decision to make the
changes to healthcare services in the area.
Hundreds of residents took to
the streets to protest against the
planned cuts at the end of September,
with two marches culminating in
a rally at Ealing Common. Visit
ealingnewsextra.co.uk/gallery
‘DEEPLY FLAWED
PLANS’
Council leader Julian
Bell said: “We’re not
at all surprised with
the survey findings.
They send a clear
message that local
people want their
emergency health
services protected. If
these plans go ahead
people in Ealing will
be further away from
emergency treatment
even under ‘blue
light’ conditions,
when every second
counts.
“We won’t
accept this second
rate service or be
bystanders as our hospital
services are dismantled. The
council will continue to fight these
plans all the way. I have written
to the Secretary of State for
Health to ask him to listen
to local people and halt
these deeply flawed plans
immediately.”
‘A HEROIC EFFORT’
Independent health experts,
The King’s Fund and Nuffield
Trust, recently published
a report that said as many
as 1,700 extra acute beds
could be needed in London by 2021
to keep up with
current demand.
The report’s authors
also claim it would
require ‘a heroic
effort by all parts of
the health and care
system’ to reduce the
numbers of people going
into hospital by 2021.
In the trust’s view this is ‘highly
unlikely to be achievable’ over
this period.
‘WE WILL NEVER GET
THEM BACK’
With a decision on the future
of Ealing Hospital expected
very shortly, residents are
urged to sign the petition at
www.sohpetition.co.uk which will
be delivered to the government
early next year.
Councillor Bell said: “To have an
area with a population much larger
than major cities like Liverpool
stripped of its major hospitals is
ludicrous. And once they are gone
we will never get them back.”
Visit www.ealing.gov.uk/soh
for more information and to
sign-up for updates.
82% have not
felt involved in
the decision
around ealing December 2017
9