Porter dies: strike to stop
Socialist Press1978 1978-02-08Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 4 →
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DANGER HOSPITAL CUTS KILI KEEP Fighting the cuts in London - marchei closure of Bethnal Green Hospital.
NUPE members at the Westminster Hospital in London walked out last Tuesday after a porter was left to die in the hospital's Casualty Department.
The porter Mr. Loreto Galano, aged 35, had been sick since the previous week and on Tuesday was taken Bethnal DANGER Hosputal closett Green ahead! Hospital OPEN protest WE NEED HOSPI into the Casualty Department by two fellow NUPE members at about 10 am.
Apart from a cursory examination at 11 o clock, Mr. Galano was not seen again until he collapsed and died at 1.00 pm.
When his fiancee, who also works at the hospital asked about his condition at 1.30 pm., she was told she woul 1 have to not 1 old of his hour and a half wait, and was death until an later.
Mass meeting
Friends and colleagues of Mr. Galano were only allowed to see his body after a wrangle with the hospital.
Over 200 NUPE members voted in a mass meeting to support by a series of lightning strikes, the call of NUPE branch secretary Jamie Morris for an inquiry by the Regional Health Authority into Mr. Galano's death, and a further inquiry into the running of the hospital.
This tragic case has highlighted once again the effects the cuts are having on the London area.
A NUPE steward at the Westminster told Socialist Press that pressure on the casualty department had increased since the closure of the Casualty Department at the nearby St. Georges hospital: and the closure of 39 beds at the Gordon Hospital, part of the Westminster Group, had meant it was more difficult to find beds for patients who needed to be admitted urgently from Casualty.
Worthless
Since it is cuts like this which are the cause of Mr. Galano's death, it is worthless to ask the Regional Health Authority to hold an inquiry: it is they who drew up the plan to close 150 of Londons hospitals.
The only people capable of carrying out an inquiry into Mr. Galano's death and the workings of the Westminster Hospital are the NUPE members themselves, in conjunction with other hospital unions in London.
Not active And the inquiry must not stop at the Westminster Hospital, but must include the Regional Health Authority and the DHSS itself.
In the past, Jamie Morris has not been active in building joint action with other unions and other hospitals to fight the cuts.
committees In spite of that workers in hospitals as far away as the Royal Free in Camden have staged lightning strikes and pledged support for the Westminster NUPE branch.
NUPE members at the Westminster who seriously wish to fight the conditions which led to their colleague's death must force their stewards to build joint committees with other unions in their Area and to affiliate to CLASH, the all-London stewards organisation set-up to fight for united action against NHS cuts.