NHS Flash Mob

Guest post from Gay Lee from Lambeth Keep Our NHS Public

Last Saturday saw a singing flashmob action organised via Lambeth Keep our NHS Public, to highlight Richard Branson’s Virgin takeover of much of NHS healthcare.

It’s part of the nationwide ‘People’s Assembly Bonfire of Austerity’ actions, mostly taking place today. In central London people were blocking Westminster Bridge at 6pm tonight and burning their energy bills in protest.

30 – 40 people targeted the Virgin Media phone shop at Brixton with the aim of alerting members of the public to the creeping privatisation and destruction of our NHS by companies like Virgin who want help create a health system modeled on the US one – expensive, exploitative and inefficient.

This is going on under our noses but few of us realize it. Virgin doesn’t shout about it but it now runs 270 plus community and primary health services in England, including half of Surrey’s community health services.

So we wanted to alert people with specially adapted ‘Virgin’ songs and a Richard Branson guy collecting a ‘penny for the NHS’. We handed out 600 leaflets to interested passers-by.

The flashmob also achieved another goal – to stop people going into the Virgin shop. But we didn’t even have to ask them to boycott it – the fierce-looking staff on the door, presumably trying to keep us out, managed to stop everyone else getting in. So – own goal!

The story was covered in the Brixton Blog and Brixton Buzz

NHS Flashmob reported on the Brixton Blog

Last Saturday’s “Don’t Let Branson Destroy the NHS” flashmob,which Lambeth Keep Our NHS Public organised and Lambeth SOS supported, was reported in the Brixton Blog

Don’t Let Branson Destroy the NHS

Richard Branson is taking over key parts of the newly privatised NHS. Lambeth Keep Our NHS Public is having a flashmob outside the Virgin store in Brixton Town Centre (very close to the tube) to highlight this:

Flashmob – Don’t let Branson destroy the NHS
Saturday 2nd November – 2pm
Outside the Virgin Store in Brixton (just north of Brixton tube)

This will feature

• Songs – We will adapt ‘Tory Toffs’ and ‘We’ll fight on’ with Virgin words
• Lots of Virgin banners and leaflets – asking people not to go into the Virgin shop because of its ‘stealing’ of healthcare
• Richard Branson Guy
• Sparklers and balloons (hopefully)

Awesome South Londoners

We try and keep this blog focussed on Lambeth, as if we covered every protest in South London it would become overwhelming. However, particular congratulations are due to two South London campaigns who made the national news:

• Congratulations to Housing Action for Southwark and Lambeth who occupied a council house Southwark council was proposing to sell
• Congratulations to the Save Lewisham Hospital campaign for their amazing court victory.

Don’t let Branson destroy the NHS

Richard Branson is taking over key parts of the newly privatised NHS. Lambeth Keep Our NHS Public is having a protest outside the Virgin store in Brixton Town Centre (very close to the tube) to highlight this on Saturday 2nd November at a time to be announced:

This will feature

• Songs – We will adapt ‘Tory Toffs’ and ‘We’ll fight on’ with Virgin words
• Lots of Virgin banners and leaflets – asking people not to go into the Virgin shop because of its ‘stealing’ of healthcare
• Richard Branson Guy
• Sparklers and balloons (hopefully)

Watch this space for more details, and please contact us if you’d like to get involved

The Latest in the Campaign to Save Lewisham Hospital

There are a couple of updates on the campaign to save Lewisham A&E, and some dates for your calendar and emails for you to write if you haven’t already! First an excerpt from the email from Lewisham MP Heidi Alexander on the situation now and what they are doing to save the hospital (we encourage all Labour MPs to stand against all the cuts of course):

As many of you will know, at the end of January despite huge public opposition, the Government decided to proceed with the closure of the full A&E and full maternity department at Lewisham Hospital.

They claim they will retain a “smaller A&E” at Lewisham and a mid-wife led birthing unit. Be under no illusions – these changes will lead to a decimation of services at Lewisham.

Whilst the plans will take about 3 years to implement (and all services at Lewisham are set to remain until investment has taken place at other hospitals in order to deal with patients displaced from Lewisham), it is clear that ultimately, all “blue light” ambulances will be sent to other hospitals and up to 9 in 10 babies will have to be born elsewhere.

The sale of two thirds of the land and buildings at Lewisham Hospital is also set to proceed.

In Parliament, the three Lewisham MPs have been united in opposition to these plans, whilst Lewisham Council (under the leadership of Mayor Sir Steve Bullock) have launched a legal challenge.

The council are seeking a judicial review of the Government’s decision in the High Court on the grounds that the Secretary of State didn’t have the power in law to take a decision about services at Lewisham Hospital, based upon the Trust Administration process that had taken place. They have yet to be given a court date but you can read more on their website.

The council has also launched a challenge fund to assist with covering the costs of the legal action. If you are able to make a donation (no matter how small), please click on the link below:

https://www.lewisham.gov.uk/myservices/socialcare/health/Pages/Save-Lewisham-Hospital-Legal-Challenge-Fund.aspx

All the money raised will be used to pay for the court case. In the event that the court awards costs in the Council’s favour, or if for any other reason your donation is not needed for the legal action, then the Council will donate your money to local charity, Children First Lewisham.

The Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign will also be lobbying Parliament, next Tuesday 26 March. Below is the letter from the Chair of the Campaign with links.

 Dear Save Lewisham Hospital Supporter

I am writing to you to ask you to:

Join the Lobby of Parliament on Tuesday 26th March to say No to Privatisation Of the NHS and to Stop the Section 75 Regulations

Assemble at the Lobby Gate at 12 noon

Called by the Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign and supported by NHS campaigners all over the country, backed by Unite the Union.

See
http://www.savelewishamhospital.com/lobby-of-parliament-26-march-stop-nhs-privatisation/

Sign up on FaceBook and join the event https://www.facebook.com/events/571798492839107/

For the last month the Government have been trying to sneak through regulations (the fine details) to the Health and Social Care Act that will mean the privatisation of the NHS. Despite giving repeated assurances they would not do this the drive for profit is greater than their commitment to promises made to us, the electorate. They were caught red-handed and after an amazing groundswell of opposition from all over the country the Government were pushed into re-writing the regulations. A small victory for us, but they are now back with the same wrecking ideas spruced up, cowardly repackaged and due to come in to force on April 1st.

We are calling on all who support the NHS to join the Lobby of Parliament (26 March) to urge the Lords and Commons to reject the regulations and to defend the NHS as a public service.

We also ask you also URGENTLY to write to a Lord. You can help by writing to as many peers in the House of Lords as possible.

The Lords will have a crucial role in scrutinizing and debating the regulations over the next few weeks. We think you should write to peers because any of us are free to do so. We can only write to our own MPs which limits the mass effect we can have. But you can contact friends and family in other areas and ask them to write to their MP too.

We have email lists of key Lords and sample emails/letters See website www.savelewishamhospital.com to find lists of Lords you can click on to urgently write a letter to a Lord.

Louise Irvine

Chair of Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign

Next steps in the NHS Campaign

The fight is still going strong to save it, but more help is always needed! The next meeting of  Lambeth’s Keep Our NHS Public will be next week

Thursday 21st March, 7pm
Duke of Cambridge pub
74, Lansdowne Way, Stockwell, SW8 2DR

All are welcome! If you’d like to get in touch or to get more information, you can email lambethkonp@gmail.com.

There’s also an important update about our blood service, which is about to be sold off, please read the below, and sign the petition to stop it here: http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-our-blood-tranfusion-service.

From: Geoff Dunbar via Campaigns by You

Sent: Monday, March 11, 2013 10:12 AM

Subject: The Government has decided to sell a blood service

 

The government has decided to sell the Plasma service. No surpirise there then. I have also been fortunate enough to have received a contact from a very ‘socially aware’ journalist and two of her friends, all of whom are really committed to preventing the sale of PRUK.

The government is currently seeking a purchaser. Initial information has mentioned a few companies showing an interest. The ones we have heard about are all foreign, Spanish, German and American. I don’t know the name of the Spanish company. The German firm is a ‘plasma company’ by the name of Biotest AG. There is some concern about the track record of Biotest, with the possibility that they lost their license at some time in the past. They also appear to be doing a lot of business with China, where they can get a better price for some of their products. From America there are two companies, Baxter International, which I believe is a company that handles ‘plasma products’ and whose share price seems to be on the up. The other company is Bain Capital, a private equity firm (where presidential candidate Mitt Romney made his millions, and still has shares). I don’t know a lot about private equity firms, but t hey seem to be linked to things like ‘venture capital schemes’ and will be keen to have their share of the profits. The ‘shadier’ side of these companies is connected with ‘asset stripping’. If you google Bain Capital, thee are some worrying articles that emerge, including the sacking of Illinois workers and relocating to China.

There are three immediate courses of action that we can take.

1) One of the people I am now working with has spoken to MPs, and through the offices of Jeremy Corby, Hywel Williams and Frank Dobson has been able to have an ‘Early Day Motion’ (EDM) tabled. You can see it at  http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2012-13/1164 – including the number of MPs who sign up to support it.You can help by contacting your MP and making them aware of the EDM and asking them to support it.

2) Can we make sure that as many people we know are aware of what is happening and if we can get them to join our campaign that would be great.

3) It would appear that not all health professionals are aware of the government’s plans and that includes haematologists, so if you have the chance to inform interested groups…

Thank you for your support for this campaign.

Geoff Dunbar