I am writing in the wake of the judgment handed down in the campaign to save servjces at Lewisham Hospital, a case that bears great relevance to our own fight to retain services at St Helier. This week the High Court ruled in favour of campaigners for Lewisham, and determined that Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt's proposals to downgrade the hospital were illegal.

The hope this brings to our fight for St Helier Hospital cannot be underestimated - as the row rumbles on it is becoming clear that the issue of NHS cuts is toxic to the Tory-Lib Dem Coalition as we progress ever closer to local and national elections in 2014 and 2015. It's clear too that it's local people speaking out and mobilising to protect essential services that has made a huge difference.

As such, I want to thank every person who has signed our St Helier petition. Thank you to everyone who has shown support for our NHS at street stalls and at local fairs and events. Thank you to all those who joined the 65th birthday celebrations in Sutton High Street last month and showed their love and respect for our NHS. Thank you to the brilliant Carshalton Mums led by Kathy McGuinness; to Siobhain McDonagh MP; to Bonnie Craven of Sutton and Cheam Labour Party, and to Georgia Lewis and team of the Save St Helier campaign for their tireless work on this issue.

Most of all, thank you to all the staff at St Helier who have retained high standards of care and patient satisfaction throughout these difficult and testing times.

We pledged to do everything possible to save our services and to stand with local people, and we have lots of work still to do- but we are one step closer to victory this week.

Niki Rosenbaum
Secretary to Carshalton & Wallington Labour Party

 


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