Download the NHS Choir's Charity Christmas single!

The marvellous Lewisham Hospital choir that came together for the BBC series Sing While You Work at the height of the fight against Jeremy Hunt's proposals to downgrade the hospital, have gone from strength to strength and now include NHS staff from Greenwich.

The Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Choir have now released a single for Christmas, with all proceeds going to Macmillan Cancer Support and local healthcare charities. The beautifully sung "A Bridge Over You" is a combination of Simon & Garfunkle and Coldplay songs – and really brings a tear to the eye!

To download the single or buy the CD, go to their dedicated website www.nhschoir.co.uk

Hurrah! Victory for Lewisham Hospital!

The Court of Appeal has ruled Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt did not have power to implement cuts at Lewisham Hospital. During the summer, a judge ruled Mr Hunt acted outside his powers when he decided the emergency and maternity units should be cut back. The government turned to the Court of Appeal in an attempt to get the decision overruled.

Save Lewisham Hospital Victory Parade 14th September + Fundraiser at the Rivoli 27th September

Save Lewisham Hospital campaign is celebrating a victory for Lewisham and a victory for all. But the Government has appealed against the recent judgement in Lewisham's favour, and as an independent campaign, the campaign needs to raise more money. The fight goes on…More info here.

Victory for Lewisham Hospital campaign!

Rejoice, rejoice! The Save Lewisham Hospital campaign has been waiting on tenderhooks for a judgement since taking the fight to the High Court to challenge the Secretary of State's decision to downgrade Lewisham hospital. Today, the High Court announced that Jeremy Hunt had acted outside his powers and therefore unlawfully, in deciding to substantially cut services and close departments at Lewisham. Well done, everyone!

Read more on the Save Lewisham Hospital website.

Save Lewisham Hospital: The People's Commission today

Save Lewisham Hospital is holding an event today at the Broadway Theatre. They're calling it a The People's Commission and it starts at 9.30am and runs all day till 5.30pm.

The day is chaired by Michael Mansfield QC. There will be other speakers during the day, or rather, witnesses (including GPs, clinicians, patients, nurses, and other local representatives) whose evidence will be heard by a team of barristers and the public. (See this page and scroll down). The aim of the day is to weigh up the evidence that was ignored during the government's sham consultation.

Mansfield is acting on behalf of Save Lewisham Hospital in their Judicial Review in the High Court (2-4 July), which has been funded by donations by Lewisham residents. This is a great coup for the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign – Mansfield's participated in and won many radical court cases against the powers-that-be, in the cause of Human Rights and Civil Liberties. Notably, he's defended the families of Stephen Lawrence and Jean Charles de Menezes, the Orgreave miners, those wrongly convicted in the IRA pub bombings in Guildford and Birmingham, Bloody Sunday, as well as the Al-Fayed investigation into the death of Dodi and Diana. His statement for the Lewisham Hospital campaign says:

“I together with the other panel judges are honoured to perform a much needed role for the people of Lewisham and all those beyond who depend upon the services of the NHS. Government policy over the last two decades has contributed to a major crisis in which viable and successful health resources are threatened with closure. The voice of the people has been marginalised in this process."

The event today starts the week in which the campaign goes to the High Court, a week now renamed as Justice for Lewisham Week 29 June–5 July. The Lewisham People's Commission will "examine the decision of the Secretary of State for Health to downgrade Lewisham Hospital and the context for this: the fundamental changes being made to the NHS over the last 40 years".

A particular question arising from this is the degree to which the recent moves to open the NHS to external market forces has been in any way openly debated (they haven't, nor were they part of a manifesto that was voted for).

The organisers have encouraged people to book a place at the event today (so they can get an idea of numbers to cater for), but it's obviously too late for that. It only costs 50p to get in, so it's probably not too late if you're in the area and want to put in your pennyworth and have your say. Otherwise you can follow on Twitter (@SaveLewishamAE and #Justice4Lewisham or Facebook. A live connection is promised also.

But if you can't make it today, be ready to check and support the real deal when the High Court case starts on Tuesday.

Demonstrate to defend London's NHS: Saturday 18th May

Closures planned across the capital include nine A&Es, a number of maternity units and thousands of hospital beds that will put lives at risk. Hospitals and community services are also threatened with take-over by multi-national private companies.

Join the demonstration!
Saturday 18th May: assemble 12 noon
Jubilee Gardens, Waterloo (Belvedere Road SE1)
March to the Department of Health and Parliament
Organised by Keep Our NHS Public (KONP)

SAVE LEWISHAM HOSPITAL LEGAL CHALLENGE

The Save Lewisham Hospital campaign URGENTLY need to raise £20,000 to support their legal challenge to the government. Their judicial review will take place on 2 July. The legal action claims that the decision to downgrade and close services at the hospital is unlawful as the Administrator’s powers (and therefore the Secretary of State’s too) related to South London Healthcare NHS Trust only and did not extend to the Lewisham Trust.

Their judicial review is complementary to the Council's judicial review.

More info www.savelewishamhospital.com/legal-challenge/

Account name: Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign Legal Fund
Sort code: 089299  Account number: 65646357 
Or send cheques to the following address:
Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign
Lewisham Pensioners Forum Office
The Saville Centre
436 Lewisham High St
Lewisham SE13 6LJ

Also see Lewisham Council's Legal Challenge Fund.

Boris bollocking...Born in Lewisham...New Cross Fire Station

Join hands around Lewisham hospital: Saturday 16 March: 2pm at the hospital. Everyone welcome.
www.facebook.com/events/133050263535134/
www.savelewishamhospital.com/current-actions/born-in-lewisham/

Meanwhile, last Thursday Mayor of London Boris Johnson got a very poor reception at Lewisham Theatre, in an event dominated by Save Lewisham Hospital campaigners.
www.newstatesman.com/staggers/2013/03/boris-johnson-heckled-almost-two-hours-lewisham
www.newsshopper.co.uk/news
www.eastlondonlines.co.uk

One of the other issues raised at the event was Boris's proposed closure of London Fire Stations, in particular New Cross Fire Station. There will be a public meeting on Thursday 14th March, 7.30pm at the Barnes Wallis Centre, 74 Wild Goose Drive SE14 5LL (off Queen's Road, rear of the fire station). The Fire Brigades Union will put their views alongside Len Duvall (GLA), Cllr Paul Bell and Tony Reay from Lewisham Trades Union Council. Transpontine has more details.

SAVE THE NHS! (and Lewisham Hospital!)

UPDATE 25 FEBRUARY: 38 Degrees have launched a new campaign that has overlapped the petition begun last Thursday (which we posted about then and which had already reached nearly 13,000 signatures in three days). Even if you signed the other petition, please sign again on the new one HERE! (Please sign both!)

UPDATE 26 FEBRUARY: Act NOW to stop Section 75! Save Lewisham Hospital have now put up a page about the story below, and have very helpfully provided two letters you can email to Parliament.


For some reason, most of the mainstream media (especially the BBC) appears to be ignoring all the government's sneaky back door attempts to privatise health, education, the fire service and anything else they can get their hands on. So you may not know about this...

Last week, the government brought out a legal document that sets out the Regulations to be applied to the Health & Social Care Act (which was passed last year). Hidden away in the jargon, and easily missed by many, is Section 75 in which Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) are obliged to put out to tender almost every NHS service – to any penny-scrimping profit-making bidder.

The new regulations grant the 'regulator' (Monitor) sweeping statutory powers to intervene and enforce competition. Monitor will be able to decide when CCGs have breached competition regulations, and have the authority to stop arrangements that they deem flawed and to impose competitive tendering and the offer of 'Any Qualified Provider' (step in, Virgin etc).

As Polly Toynbee writes in The Guardian today, "At first patients may not notice who profits from their services, as private companies hide under the NHS logo. But the change will be irreversible when NHS services atrophy once contracts are let out."

Much of the tax you pay towards the NHS will go into the coffers of private company share holders, and we'll be bailing them out like the banks. The government have lied and misled everyone, and this secondary legislation is the final nail in the coffin for the NHS.

More reading: 
www.opendemocracy.net/ournhs/nicola-cutcher-lucy-reynolds/nhs-as-we-know-it-needs-prayer
www.nationalhealthaction.org.uk/press-release-anger-as-sneak-attack-regulations-push-nhs-privatisation/ 
www.keepournhspublic.com/index.php

Media coverage:
Update 25 February: Tories' hidden privatisation plan revealed www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/nhs-tories-hidden-privatisation-plan-1729681
Update 26 February: NHS competition rules must be reviewed www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9896186/Norman-Lamb-NHS-competition-rules-must-be-reviewed.html
Lib Dem pressure forces Jeremy Hunt to rewrite NHS provider regulations www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/feb/26/jeremy-hunt-nhs-regulations-rewrite
Update 27 February: Is a new NHS reforms row brewing? Finally the BBC report the story we covered six days ago, but it's hidden away in the Health section of the news webpages: www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21606374
Update 1 March: Doctors' concern over NHS contracts being put up for sale www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/9901077/Doctors-concerns-over-NHS-contracts-being-put-up-for-sale.html 
Update  3 March: With a broken promise, the government has handed the NHS over to the market www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/03/government-created-nhs-market
As NHS services are privatised, no one thought to write listening to patients into the contract www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/03/nhs-privatisation-failure-in-patient-care
BBC News at Ten finally reports NHS privatisation with government bias, and story hidden away again on Health pages of website www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21649307.

Update 5 March:
NHS private sector climbdown a 'humiliating U-turn', says Labour Lib Dem health minister Norman Lamb announces rewrite of key competition regulations 'to remove any doubt' over privatisation fears www.guardian.co.uk/society/2013/mar/05/nhs-private-sector-humiliating-u-turn-labour
On BBC Radio 4's Inside Health, Lord Howe promises a re-write of NHS regulations "within a few days".
After thousands sign the 38 Degrees petition and over a thousand doctors write to the Daily Telegraph over the weekend, BBC News Health section (still not the main page) reports: NHS competition rules to be changed www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21672962

Update 12 March: Government drops controversial clause from NHS competition rules www.hsj.co.uk/news/policy/government-drops-controversial-clause-from-nhs-competition-rules/5056026.article 
Amend in haste, repent at leisure – NHS section 75 saga continues www.opendemocracy.net/ournhs/caroline-molloy/amend-in-haste-repent-at-leisure-nhs-section-75-saga-continues



Events and other news:

BORIS IN CATFORD – 7th March
Boris Johnson will be at Broadway Theatre, Catford on Thursday 7th March (6pm for 7pm–9pm), for People's Question Time, which is organised twice yearly by the Mayor and London Assembly. You can apply for FREE tickets (maximum of two). Read more on the Save Lewisham Hospital website, or apply directly for tickets here. 

FILM NIGHT and discussion on the fight to Save Lewisham A&E – 4th March A screening of "Running Out of Patients", a documentary on the 1987 Victoria Nurses' Strike, followed by discussion on how ideas raised in the film (direct action) might be employed to save the NHS.
Monday 4th March, 7-10pm at Utrophia 
(opposite Deptford station) Deptford High Street
(£2 contributions)
Facebook event page

BORN IN LEWISHAM - Saturday 16th March (time to be announced)
If you, your children, your sister of brother, your boyfriend or anyone you know was born in Lewisham Hospital – or if you just want to show your support – come along and join hands around the hospital.
More info on Save Lewisham Hospital website
Or join the Facebook page

THE MAYOR'S LEGAL CHALLENGE
Update 25 Feb: Lewisham Council legal action decision delayed...see News Shopper story.
Update 27 Feb: Council approves Mayor's legal action. Please donate to public fund

POP-UP AGAINST PFI – Friday 1st March 12noon St Paul's Cathedral
Direct Action...targeting the companies which profit from extortionate debts put on our NHS, including the South London Healthcare Trust.
See SaveLondonNHS.org.uk  and Save Lewisham Hospital
FaceBook http://www.facebook.com/events/410479845709404/

Save Lewisham Hospital events and legal challenge

EVENTS THIS WEEK:

Friday 14 – Saturday 16 February
VALENTINES FOR LEWISHAM HOSPITAL
Please tie a red balloon outside the railings of the hospital, take a picture, send to your local paper, Facebook it to your own page and to the Save Lewisham Hospital page.

Friday 15 February 1pm
LUNCHTIME RALLY at the war memorial opposite the hospital.

Date to be announced
BORN IN LEWISHAM HOSPITAL
An event is being organised in which people born in – or who gave birth in – Lewisham Hospital, their friends, families, colleagues and supporters, can join hands around the hospital. More info here.

Also read the latest news from Louise Irvine, Chair of Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign here.


LEGAL CHALLENGE
Lewisham Council has launched a legal challenge and the Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign is in discussion with solicitors to mount a separate but complementary case. Both need help with fund-raising for legal fees.

In a letter to the Secretary of State, the Council is giving Jeremy Hunt until 22 February to withdraw his decision. A similar letter has been sent to Matthew Kershaw.

The Council has set up a Legal Challenge Fund to enable people to help by donating to the court costs. In the event that the court awards costs in the Council's favour (or if for any other reason your donation is not used for the legal action) the Council will donate your money to local charity Children First Lewisham.

You can contribute to the Hospital Legal Challenge Fund here (via debit or credit card).  

The fight goes on – video of rally after Hunt's announcement

Credit: ReelNews
See further statement from Save Lewisham Hospital.

Official Save Lewisham A&E single out now!

Lewisham rapper Question has recorded a tune with the Lewisham NHS Choir and record producer Charles Bailey as an inspirational track "to help fight the cause, raise awareness and support the movement".

Save Lewisham A&E is the official Save Lewisham A&E campaign single released yesterday and available on iTunes. Check the YouTube page for full credits of everyone involved.

Download the track. There are three versions to choose from – it's only 79p per track, or £2.37 for all three. Play it LOUD...!

Also see East London Lines story "Mayor threatens legal fight over Lewisham A&E". This story indicates that Hunt's announcement will be Thursday morning, not Friday. See previous post.

UPDATE: Thursday 31st January (midday)
Mr Hunt has recommended Kershaw's proposals. (See The Guardian's live blog). He inaccurately states journey times will only increase by a minute, and that no other proposals have been forthcoming. A&E will be downgraded and high risk maternity cases will have to travel further. Shadow health minister Burnham asked if Hunt is confident these measures are legal – will he publish his legal advice? "There has been a 'scandalous waste of money' on a solution that will not be acceptable to the people of Lewisham".

Read the latest statement from Save Lewisham Hospital in which it describes the news as a 'deadly decision'. "The recommendation to close Lewisham A&E is part of an ideological assault on the NHS. The administrator’s plans to make cuts and close local competitors is designed to make South London’s services more attractive to private healthcare. Although some NHS Trusts have expressed an interest in running South London’s services, so have many private companies.  The tendering process will be overseen by Jeremy Hunt, not the administrator.  It is likely to be focussed on cost and servicing the debt, rather than quality. So although headlines are focussed on local trusts, private health companies are at an advantage when they compete on cost, because they don’t bear the costs of A&E’s, intensive care, or training medical professionals."

There will be a rally outside Lewisham Hospital tonight at 6pm.

Save Lewisham Hospital activities this week

 
In the week that ends with Jeremy Hunt's decision on the future of Lewisham Hospital, the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign will be handing in petitions – including the 100ft one created at the demonstration on Saturday – at the Department of Health on Wednesday 30th January, 10am-12noon.

On Friday 1st February at 6pm there will be a rally outside the hospital to coincide with Hunt's announcement. Everyone who has time is welcome to join in both events.

Update from Save Lewisham Hospital, 30th January: 

It is believed Jeremy Hunt may make his announcement regarding Lewisham Hospital closures on Thursday 31st January.

PLEASE LOOK OUT FOR ANNOUNCEMENTS via the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign's Facebook or Twitter pages. DO NOT ASSUME it is tomorrow unless you have heard so through these channels.

IF it's Thursday 31st January:
Meet outside Lewisham Hospital at 6PM. Join the Save Lewisham Hospital campaigners, hospital workers and the community to celebrate OR to hear about next steps for the campaign.

THIS WILL NOT BE A DEMONSTRATION. We need to respect the Hospital which still has it's job to do! :-)

IF NOT, we will keep you posted.

Thank you,
Save Lewisham Hospital campaign
www.savelewishamhospital.com

Photo: Simon Way (see www.facebook.com/savelewishamhospitalnhs)
"Today petitions from the incredible public (over 40,000), the 100ft petition with thousands of names from the demo last Saturday and a petition by nearly 400 GPs was handed to Jeremy Hunt, in a last ditch attempt to persuade Hunt to NOT CLOSE crucial Lewisham Hospital departments."

Lewisham Massive

Aerial shot provided to ITV and BBC © Lewisham NHS Trust. 

All other pix by Crosswhatfields unless otherwise credited.

"If Jeremy Hunt can close a good local hospital here, he can do it anywhere in the country – nowhere is safe”

Dr Louise Irvine, Save Lewisham Hospital

Does anyone know where A&E is?

Heidi Alexander (MP Lewisham East) spoke at the rally soon after Nick Ferrari from LBC (a Lewisham resident whose son was in the hospital the night before). We missed earlier speakers. Meanwhile people were still arriving at the park (and finding it a bit muddy).

A 100ft long petition (which ended up as 200ft since both sides were used) to be delivered to Jeremy Hunt this week.

Local clown Dr Burnheart Gloss and his volunteers entertained the marchers with Splat The Rat, The Human Fruit Machine and a Coconut Shy refigured to target Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt. The coconut shy was extremely popular, with folk queuing up to "knock his rotten block off". Hunt has become a target for protesters since he refused to meet with Lewisham GPs – and has previously insisted no A&Es should be closed purely to save cash, so any decision to cut services in Lewisham would be an embarrassing U-turn. He will also face criticism if he decides to save Lewisham’s A&E because the consultation process which led to the recommendations ran 25 per cent over budget and cost taxpayers £5.1 million.

 

See more reports of the demonstration from Transpontine and Channel 4.
Also see East London Lines and more pics and news of media coverage on Save Lewisham Hospital's website. ITV and Radio 4 also had good coverage, but BBC TV disappointed. Some great pictures from the Daily Express (?!) here. Also see Andy Worthington's pictures and words here plus pics and video from Alternative SE4.
Good stories leading up to the march in The Guardian here and here.

"This is very much a national issue, there are 60 hospital trusts across the country under threat of bankruptcy, 
many of them very good hospitals."
Dr Louise Irvine, Chair of Save Lewisham Hospital campaign

Thanks to Mark Moynihan for the following scenes we missed...

Finally, BIG thanks to all who helped to organise the march. You are amazing!

March to Save Lewisham Hospital this Saturday

© Millwall FC

Sound the battle cry! Even Millwall has brought forward its game with Villa in order not to clash with the march tomorrow. Meanwhile the number of online petition signatures nears the 30,000 mark (see panel right).

The march assembles at midday at Loampit Vale roundabout...for more details see this page on the Save Lewisham Hospital website. Be there or be square...

Transpontine has written a great article here to get you in the mood.
Also see Millwall's statement on their website.