Petition Submitted to Health Scrutiny Comittee

The City Hospital Supporters Group handed over a 1145 signature petition to Councillor Deirdre Alden, Chairman of Birmingham City Council's Health Scrutiny committee on Monday at the Council House in Birmingham. There was coverage in the Birmingham Mail, as well as on Saga radio, Drive Time on Radio WM and a piece on Midlands Today at tea time and in the evening.

The signatures were collected by members of the City Hospital Supporters Group by knocking on doors in the local area, leaving petitions in local community centres and places of worship and an online petition. On our Day of Action, local resident Rageev Hassan told us about how he spent a couple of hours one day knocking on doors trying to get signatures for the petition. One door was opened by an elderly gentleman who knew nothing of the plans. He took the petition, disappeared for a couple of minutes, and came back with seven signatures from his household.

Many thanks to everyone involved for all their efforts. Hopefully this will show the Health Scrutiny Committee the strength of feeling against the proposals. They have already been critical of the plans, and have the power to refer this to the Secretary of State if they believe the proposals are not in the public interest or the consultation has not been carried out properly.

Thanks to the efforts of the members of the City Hospital Supporters Group, the Birmingham Mail (and their big debate), and media coverage on Radio WM, Saga and Midlands Today, I guess it would be difficult to claim the consultation has not been carried out properly. However, as our campaign has highlighted since December last year, the proposals are not in the public interest and there is still work to be done.

Petition Presentation Press Release

A number of representatives from this 200 strong Group of hospital staff and members of the local community will be presenting petitions to Councillor Deidre Alden Chair of Birmingham City Council’s Health Scrutiny and Overview Committee on Monday 19th March at 12 noon at the Council House in Birmingham.

The Group have been campaigning against Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospital Trust’s proposals to move Emergency Surgical, Trauma and Children’s Beds from City Hospital to Sandwell Hospital as part of their reconfiguration proposals while a new hospital is awaited in 2013.

The petitions opposed moving the Emergency Surgical, Trauma and Children’s Beds from City Hospital with the inevitable downgrading of the Accident and Emergency Department at that hospital and supported the development of 24 hour Assessment Units for both Children and Surgery.

1145 SIGNATURES WERE COLLECTED

“The Trust went out to consultation with fundamentally flawed proposals that would if they were implemented lead to worse Accident and Emergency Services for the people of Central and West Birmingham while they await a new hospital that will not open its doors before 2013 at the earliest. They have sought the views of the people and they have been given a resounding NO to their proposals” say City Hospital Supporters.

“This is only the tip of the iceberg and a major issue of this campaign has been making the community aware of what is at stake. Once they have appreciated what it will mean to them they have had no difficulty in voicing their opposition” said Dr. Ken Taylor a spokesman for the Group.

“This is not the end of the campaign. It is the beginning of the next phase. Even though the consultation ended on the 15th March the Trust will not be unveiling its final plan until May. Now is the time for people to contact their local Councillors and MPs if they have not already done so.”

“In addition to this petition the Health Scrutiny and Overview Committee of Birmingham City Council have resoundingly rejected the Trust’s proposals on changing their services and so have Mr. Khalid Mahmood’s constituents in Perry Barr after he had thoughtfully circulated them with a questionnaire.”

“The only sensible course of action for the Trust is to drop their plan and leave the beds at City Hospital while trying to shorten the time to the opening of the new hospital. Will it really take until 2010 to reach the stage of signing contracts?” asks Dr. Taylor.

Interim Consultation Ends Tomorrow

Just a reminder that Shaping Hospital Services for the Future, the consultation regarding the interim proposals for City and Sandwell Hospitals, ends tomorrow (March 15th 2007). It is a bit late to request a consultation document if you have not already filled one in but you can still fill it in online via the following link:

http://www.sunion.warwick.ac.uk/onlinesurvey/interim2010/

What does City Hospital Supporters Group consider to be the best answers to these questions?

Q1 No

Q2 Do not change until the new hospital is ready to open.

Q3 No

Q4 The proposals will result in a worse service for people living locally to City Hospital.

Q5 No

Q6 You would want urgent treatment including surgery at City Hospital. You would be fearful of the risks of transfer to another hospital.

Q7 No

Q8 Urgent care for a sick child should not be delayed by travelling to a hospital further away.

Q9 Ask why they want to make changes that will give you a worse service before the new hospital opens.

The other Questions are self-explanatory.

As well as completing your consultation form and returning it before the 16th February you can complete our petition form and return it to us and you can also choose if you wish to enrol with the City Hospital Supporters Group. For further information please see the post entitled Petition in Support of City Hospital.

Petition in Support of City Hospital

The following is the text of the petition opposing the loss of emergency Inpatient Surgical and Paediatric beds at City Hospital. A printable version is available here:

http://docs.google.com/View?docid=dr2jf65_4dd92wm

This can be printed out and sent to the address at the bottom of this post, or alternatively copy and paste into Word, fill in and e-mail to supportcityhospital@googlemail.com (If you would prefer a version in Word e-mailed to you as an attached file, please request it via the same e-mail address).

The petition can also be signed online using the following link: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/supportcityhospital/

Whichever method you decide to sign this petition by, please ensure you only sign it once.

Petition in Support of City Hospital

I oppose moving beds for Emergency Surgical Patients and Emergency Trauma Patients from City Hospital to Sandwell Hospital.


I support a 24 hour Surgical Assessment Unit at City Hospital as proposed by the surgeons and A&E doctors at City Hospital.


I oppose moving Children’s beds from City Hospital to Sandwell Hospital.


I support a Children’s Assessment Unit that remains open 24 hours a day, at City Hospital.


Name

Home Address

Contact Number

Email Address

Signature


I AM / AM NOT employed by Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust (Delete as appropriate)


If you are employed by the Trust which Department do you work in?

I wish to be enrolled as a member of The City Hospital Supporters Group. YES /NO (Delete as necessary)


Membership subscription: Medical Staff £5
Non-medical Staff £1
General Public Free

NO PERSONAL DETAILS ON THIS FORM WILL BE SHARED WITH THE TRUST.

(NB: If you are signing our online petition, please ensure you tick the box entitled "Display my name as anonymous on the signatures list" if you do NOT want your name to be publicly associated with the petition)

PLEASE PUT THIS FORM IN AN ENVELOPE ADDRESSED TO:

CITY HOSPITAL SUPPORTERS GROUP
POSTGRADUATE CENTRE
CITY HOSPITAL
DUDLEY ROAD
BIRMINGHAM
B18 7QH