Reject death by strangulation Strike to stop cuts

Scan page 11

Ms: J. Wall, Bethnal Green Hospital matron, locks drugs cabinet to close the casualty department Tuesday 29 August, 1978 at 7.30 p.m. rd House, Derbyshire St., Bethnal Green In a discussion document issued by the local Area Health Authority, the local community and the staff in the hospital are being invited to agree that the hospital will be slowly run down and finally closed in 1986 or soon after.

"Redevelopment"

To induce the necessary complacency and confusion the paper promises in its place a big shiny new £13 million hospital in the form of the "redevelopment" of the other St. Mary's Hospital, 1 mile away in Praed Street, W2.

The catch is that if the scheme to develop St. Mary's in Praed St. is to be started, decisions will have to be made now that will set the bureaucratic seal of fate on St. Mary's, Harrow Road.

The land that would be required to complete the new St. Mary's is currently owned by the British Water Board and could only be obtained by exchanging the land occupied by St. Mary's in Harrow Road.

Unworkable

If there is no agreement to exchange the land the whole scheme becomes unworkable.

Meanwhile there is of course no guarantee that a future government will go ahead with the new hospital scheme.

In any case, the running costs of the new hospital will only be available if the other St. Mary's-a 414 bedded hospitaland Paddington Green Children's Hospital are both closed.

Thus to turn St. Mary's in Praed St. into the kind of prestigious hospital that befits the sanctuary where the Royal Family have their babies, two other hospitals of value to the EGA prove the benefits of their plan.

For example, it claims that no-one will have to travel more than an extra ½ mile to hospital after completion of the scheme.

What it doesn't say is that for many of those who would normaily attend St Mary's in Harrow Road, the facilities will be on the other side of a railway, a canal and a major motorway: and the extra ½ mile is across an area with one of the highest traffic densities in Britain.

183 beds lost The plan will mean an overall loss of 183 beds in the health district and there will be only two emergency and accident departments in place of the present three.

The document provides clear evidence that the plan involves a huge loss of local jobs for health workers.

It appears, however, that no figures are to be given or negotiations conducted until after final decisions have been made to proceed with the changes.

With rumour widespread that the decisions have been made, the staff at Harrow Rd. are already becoming demoralised and beginning to leave: vacancies are becoming harder to fill.

• This plan will have to be vigorously opposed. A new hospital-yes! But workers have been promised pie in the sky many times before.

All existing facilities must be defended and maintained at least at present levels untii new services are fully available.

The AHA's consultations have proved to be meaningless rituals. No decisions must be made except on the basis of a labour movement enquiry into health needs in the area and into Disio Staff at Bethnal Green hospital are being threatened with reprisals i if they continue to give acti ve support to the fight to the hospital from health service cuts.

Junior nurses who gave up their own time to support the picket of the occupation casualty department have been told by the hospital secretary that they will be denied jobs when management's threats and recruit non-union staff.

At the same time the demand for determined strike action must be the central focus of the struggle within the labour movement.

Every trade union official must be relentlessly faced with the demand for the organisation of all-out strike action on a wider scale.

This is not a matter of persuading these "leaders" through friendly debate-they must be told to put the interests of the working class before the interests of the Callaghan-HealeyTUC traitors or stand aside.

In the same way, left talking MPs like Mikardo must be placed in the position where they either give full support for widespread strike action to defeat the policies of Callaghan-Healey or stand exposed as windbags who in reality only protect those leaders from the anger of workers.

No hint.

Unfortunately a recent builetin published by the Campaign to Keep Bethnal Green, which in the past has been heavily influenced by the politics of the Socialist Workers Party gives no hint at all that any of these questions have been understood.

The bulletin entitled "Come Inside, Love", , talks only of the need to "protest" and of the possibility that management might "change its mind"

LEAGUE

Public meeting DEFEND BETHNAL GREEN!

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R al thre eprisal threa ainst picket

PHOTO: Laurence Sparham, IFL IFI ag