Come and present hospital petitions at 1pm today as consultation closes

 Brent hospital campaigners have collected more than 2,000 signatures on petitions opposing hospital closures in West London and the privatisation of the NHS.

They will join campaigners from Ealing and Hammersmith today at 1pm to present the petitions to the North West London NHS Trust at their offices at 15 Marylebone Road, NW1 (close to Regents Park).

Please join them if you can. Brent campaigners will meet at Baket Street Station at 12.45pm.

View Larger MapDriving Directions

The consultation on Shaping  Healthier Future closes  today at midnight.  The consultation document gives the NHS NW London address as Victoria Street SW1. In fact they have moved to Marylebone Road so I checked today that redirected postal responses would still be valid if they were received at Marylebone Road after today's deadline,. They confirmed that this would be the case.

E-mail responses should go to:  consultation@new.london.nhs.uk or online at www.healthiernorthwestlondon.nhs.uk  Many people have found the latter format restrictive as it does not allow them to support the continuation of Central Middlesex A&E.

Brent, Hammersmith and Ealing march together to save hospitals

Refusing to be divided from one another with localist claims of one hospital against another, campaigners from Brent, Ealing and Hammersmith and Fulham marched to gather on Saturday calling for ALL the hospital A&E departments in the area to be saved, thus preventing the eventual running down of the main hospitals.

Speakers included the Leader of Ealing Council and a Conservative councillor from Hammersmith. Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council, joined the march briefly before going off  another official engagement.

However it was the speeches from hospital workers, patients, trade unionists (including Christine Blower, General Secretary of the NUT) and a mother of 5 children which really galvanised the crowd.  Pete Firmin, secretary of Brent Trade Union Council, was applauded when he emphasised the need for unity and outlined how the closures were an attack on the most vulnerable in Stonebridge and Harlesden.

The following comments from the public on the Hammersmith and Fulham Council website about Charing Cross A&E  echo many that have been made about Central Middlesex A&E:

Closing this A&E would mean over-burdening others in West London - the people of Hammersmith need this facility. NHS efficiency drives are to do with saving money, not with saving lives.
Jane Thurston-Hoskins
 
Has anyone tried getting to the Chelsea and Westminster hospital in a hurry, especially during a Chelsea football match?!!
S Jenner
 
What are planners thinking of!! Have they ever been to C&W Hospital from almost any direction and any time. Fulham Road is permanently gridlocked even for busses and there is no near by underground.I suppose it is a convenient way of having a quiet A&E. And where do patient go when they have to be admitted. ?To ChX. And why was ChX's A&E department been given an overhaul only recently. I do speak out of experience with both hospitals. ChX is by far the more caring hospital And what if there is an accident on the A4 The so called planners are an absolute disgrace. I could go on!!
Dina Harris
 
Keep Charing Cross Hospital with a full range of departments. I am disabled; it is my nearest hospital and the most accessible one. I have been well looked after in dealing with my cataracts, hammer toes and mastectomy. I remember it being built, serving a great need.
Patricia Owen
 
Absolutely agree. Charing Cross is a fantastic hospital with very high standard of care, at the forefront of medical technology and life saving equipment. My son was saved there at 3.5 years old after falling under a car. I have just had a laparoscopy on my gall bladder. I cannot believe what a high standard it is. It is clean, friendly and has super nursing and consultant staff.
Ewa Sylwestrowicz

London teachers call protest over GCSE debacle and new exam proposals

London teacher associations have orgabised the following demonstration and meeting on the latest of Gove's wheezes:

Wednesday 24th October at 6:00pm in Central Hall, Westminster

Tell Gove: Justice for GCSE students: No to the EBC

Meeting and protest called by London NUT associations

Speakers include:
Chris Dunne (Headteacher, Langdon Park School, Tower Hamlets)
Jane Basset (Head of English)
Professor Sally Tomlinson (Goldsmiths University)
Kevin Courtney (National Union of Teachers Deputy General Secretary)

Come to protest  at the DfE before the meeting. Bring banners
From 5pm n Department for Education, Sanctuary Buildings,
Great Smith St, Westminster (only 2 mins from the meeting venue)

The perils facing separated young asylum seekers

This report  by Nicky Road of a recent conference has been forwarded by the Institute for Race Relations and should be of interest to teachers, social workers, lawyers and refugee groups in Brent.

The  conference, organised by the Royal Holloway and the Tavistock and Portman NHS on 19 September, brought together lawyers, teachers, mental health workers, social workers, refugee organisations and young asylum seekers to share their knowledge and experiences and to establish a network to collate information and track the outcomes for separated young people seeking asylum.

The excellent contributors detailed both the legal minefield of seeking justice for these young people and the emotional and psychological impact of displacement and a very uncertain and potentially life-threatening future. Young people from Afghanistan also participated in the day and spoke about their experiences of living in the UK, gaining education and qualifications, making friends and a life here only to be met with a very uncertain future as they reach 18.

There were speakers, films taken by young people speaking about their lives, a performance of Mazloom, a play based on words and experiences of young asylum seekers, and a film called Hamedullah. This is the true story of Hamedullah who fled Afghanistan as a teenager and lived safely in Canterbury until Border Agency officials came to his house in the middle of the night, arrested him and removed him to Kabul on a charter flight. Sue Clayton, a film director working in the Media Department at the Royal Holloway, filmed the day he was led to his flight and gave him a tiny video camera which he has since used to capture his experience of returning and his daily struggle to survive. This film is a very powerful testament to the dangers that these young people face when they are forcibly removed and gives the lie to the official statement that it is safe for these young men to return.

The greatest sense of injustice voiced by those young people present was the inequality in the way they are treated in the UK. The different standards of the legal representation they receive was also voiced by many, lawyers included. Supporters of these young people have started to show extracts of Hamedullah to judges, highlighting what they can expect on their return, and this is proving an increasingly effective way of influencing the decisions taken by courts.

The film Hamedullah costs £10 with all the proceeds going to this young man to support him whilst he tries to make a new life for himself. He has been unable to get work, has no family left and his village is in one of the most dangerous areas. He is viewed with great suspicion as belonging to neither country.

Hirani and Spencer to debate hospital changes on Tuesday

There is to be a 'Question Time' style debate  between Dr Mark Spencer, Clinical lead, NW London NHS and exponent of Shaping A Healthier Future's proposals which  include the closure of Central Middlesex A&E,  and Cllr Krupesh Hirani, Brent Council lead member for Health and Adult Social Care,

The debate takes place on Tuesday October 9th, the day after the Shaping A Healthier Future consultation closes.

It will be part of the agenda for the Harlesden Connect forum at 7pm, All Souls Church, Station Road, Harlesden (next to Lloyds Bank)

Seneca chief apologises for Wembley stink

Part of the Seneca mural on its NeasdenMRF

John Carey Junior apologised at the Wembley Connects event this week for the stench that hung over the Wembley and Neasden area for more than a week over the summer, coinciding with the Olympic Games events at the Stadium and Arena.

Seneca,  which has an MRF (Materials Recycling Facility) in Hannah Close, was contrite. The company  has prided itself on its environmental credentials with parent company Careys part-funding the Welsh Harp Environmental Study Centre.

They admitted to management problems as well as technical ones and admitted that the incident led to 5,000 extra tonnes of waste going to landfill. The smell worsened when the pile of waste was disturbed to be shipped out to landfill by a fleet of lorries.

 They blamed the initial problem on the accumulation of organic waste from black bag collections in municipalities other than Brent, where there were not separate composting collections or where there were no facilities for these in flats. The manager responsible had been 'let go', and organic waste was now being turned around within a 24 hour period, rather than festering on site. Odour repressants had been fitted and the odour extracted from within the building.

In response to questions Seneca confirmed that they were seeking a rail connection to transport waste materials (the site is next to the Chiltern Line) and that plans for a biomass plant were planned to go ahead but had been delayed when Seneca's partner went into liquidation.

The Environment Agency in a  briefing dated October 12th and distributed at the meeting said:

We are currently considering our enforcement options. This is  a live investigation and because of legal sensitivities, we are not able to discuss how the investigation is progressing. We will of course keep in touch with people who contact us and ask to be kept informed when we can say more. 

We have received a number of late reports of odour during recent weeks. We would ask that the local community immediately contact us on our 24 hour incident hotline telephone number 0800 80 70 60, if they smell odour which they believe is coming from Unit 2, Hannah Close.

In my contribution I reminded residents that there are a number of waste plants in the area and that Seneca was just across the railway lines from St Margaret Clitherow Primary School and Chalkhill Primary School. The proposed Wembley Stadium Primary would not be far away in Fulton Road. Brent Council had discussed the issue of the accumulation of such ' dirty neighbour' waste firms in the area in its Wembley Plan consultation. The consultation on the plan's preferred options closes on Monday October 8th. Residents who are concerned should go to Brent Council's consultation portal HERE to submit their views.

The consultation closes at 17.00 on Monday.

Join the Save Our Hospitals march on Saturday in Shepherds Bush

Brent Fightback will be supporting this march: 

SATURDAY 6th OCTOBER
...sees the climax of our campaign when we MARCH from Shepherds Bush to Lillie Road - the route symbolises the link between Hammersmith and Charing X hospitals, and the people who use them.

We need a huge turnout to build on the success of the March in Ealing a few weeks ago and our own Public Meeting last week.

We know many people from the Ealing and the Brent campaigns will be joining our march to support us and emphasize the London-wide opposition to these closures - let's make sure that this march is the biggest yet!

This is the last show of public feeling before the consultation closes on Monday 8th October when the joint campaigns will be handing their petitions - with over 50,000 signatures - to NW London NHS bosses.

The Programme of events is: 11am onwards: Assemble ROCKLEY ROAD W12
(just south of Shepherds Bush Green - map)

      12 Noon:          March moves off along South side of Shepherds Bush Green Click HERE for Map of Route

 1pm (approx)in Lillie Road Recreational Ground:
    RALLY

Speakers will include:

Carlo Nero, Chair of Save our Hospitals Campaign
Paul Kenny, General Secretary of GMB
Andy Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith
A surprise celebrity (who we can't name yet!)

plus speakers from Hammersmith and Charing Cross Hospitals' staff, and Hammersmith and Fulham Council. There will be a band to lead the march and entertain us at the Rally

WE STILL NEED YOUR SUPPORT TO MAKE THE MARCH A SUCCESS:

PUBLICITY
It is vital that we publicise our MARCH, right up until the event itself. We will be all around Hammersmith and Fulham on Thursday and Friday leafleting the Rockley Road and Lillie Road areas, as well as holding a stall at Charing Cross on Thursday 12noon - 2pm. PLEASE help with leafleting on Thursday or Friday: check the website for more details or emailcampaign@saveourhospitals.net to find out how to volunteer.

MAKE SURE all your family, friends and neighbours know about the march! Pass on this email NOW to everyone you can - you would be surprised how many people STILL DON'T KNOW about these plans to shut A&Es! STEWARDS

We still need stewards to help direct the march. It will not be an onerous task - you will just need to arrive a little earlier for a safety briefing and wear a yellow jacket which we will provide. But we DO NEED more volunteers: we have promised the police that we will be a well-organised and orderly march. We need lots of stewards to ensure everything runs smoothly. If you're coming anyway, why not volunteer by emailing: campaign@saveourhospitals.net

One year of closed libraries to be marked on October 13th