[The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson hospital is facing a…]
Socialist Press1979 1979-01-03Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 12 →
Read from the scan by machine and not corrected: expect misread words, and now and then a caption or a line from a neighbouring story. For anything you quote, read the scan.
Scan page 12
The Elizabeth Garrett Anderson hospital is facing a new threat to its continuation, while a crucial step has been taken in the abandonment of the struggle to defend Bethnal Green Hospital.
At the EGA the Christmas period and the shortage of staff has been used by the Area Health Authority as an excuse to run the hospital down still further.
On 11 June 1976 this same manoeuvre was used to close down the EGA maternity unit which has never been reopened.
Secretary of State David Ennals' last attempt to close the EGA was made in July 1978. Then, the groundsweil of opposition including the threat of London-wide strike action forced him to back down.
Developments at Bethnal Green have now strengthened Ennals' hand. The same failure to mobilise the labour movement has now led to an end of the occupation of the accident and emergency department and acceptance of the plan to turn the hospital into a geriatric unit.
The main objective now is to rebuild support for defensive all-out strike action, starting with a fight in the NUPE London Area Health Committee meeting on 3 January•