Maudsley Campaign Gathers Pace
The campaign to stop the government closing the Maudsley Emergency Clinic has been gathering momentum since the announcement of its planned closure was made.
Last week’s Council meeting was dominated by the issue. The campaigners presented what I thought ws the best deputation I had heard in the council chamber. The steps of the town hall were packed with protesters before the meeting. And the standrd of debate in the chanber even did justice to the importance of the issue. You can’t always say that.
All four parties on the council voted for a motion condemning the proposed closure. All the borough’s MPs are also against the closure (although those with government jobs have gone quiet since the announcement was made). I was left wondering what it says about out political system that one person in Whitehall can ignore that level of opposition. The case argued by the Liberal Democrats for reforming the NHS to make it democratic and locally accountable is now surely overwhelming.
Tommy MacDonald said,
March 6, 2007 @ 12:23 pm
I don’t know if you’re aware of them but there is a statutory body called the Patients’ Forum (sometimes known as Patient and Public Involvement Forums) for every NHS Trust including all PCTs, hospitals, mental health trusts and ambulance services. The Patients’ Forum for SLaM now has a website at http://slam.patientsforum.co.uk/ where we’re attempting to keep the public updated on news of the EC closure as well as all other consultations and other areas of work the Forum gets involved in.