Feb 1st, 2013
Lewisham hospital – an update
By Andreas Kirkinis
What’s happening to Lewisham Hospital? The news is mixed. Jeremy Hunt has announced that the maternity and A&E units will stay open. But both will be scaled back and be able to treat less people.
It’s not all we hoped for. But Lewisham Hospital will still be open for business. And there’s no doubt it could have been a lot worse if so many thousands of us hadn’t spoken up.
Over 17,000 members of 38 Degrees from across London contacted Jeremy Hunt calling on him to protect the hospital. Last Saturday, thousands of 38 Degrees members were among the 25,000-strong march through the streets of Lewisham. All the community was represented, from babies who’d just been born in the hospital right through to pensioners in their 90s.
Together all of us proved to Jeremy Hunt that we’re not going to just sit by and watch our NHS services get ruined.
This isn’t over. The NHS will last as long as people like us stick together and speak up to protect it. There’ll be more to do to protect NHS services in Lewisham, across London, and across the whole country.
Thanks for all you do – let’s keep going!