Published
Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter & Marco Marcelline> in the 18 October, 2024 online edition of the Waltham Forest Echo say that the health secretary Wes Streeting has confirmed that the long-awaited redevelopment of Whipps Cross Hospital is “going to happen.”
Article by Marco Marcelline in the 11th September 2024 online edition of the Waltham Forest Echo says that the government is unwilling or unable to provide any information on the progress or projected completion date of the Whipps Cross rebuild.
Article by Josh Mellor, Local Democracy Reporter, in the 17th January 2023 online edition of the Waltham Forest Echo casts more doubt on the Trust's plans to retain the Margaret Centre.
Some disturbing information about the provision of doctors and nurses in the UK from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) downloaded from Roy Lilley's Twitter account:
Article by Eva Turner in the December 2022 edition of the Adison Road Medical Practice Newsletter regarding the uncertain fate of the Margaret Centre Hospice in the plans for the New Whipps Cross Hospital.
Article in the
a WF Echo article from Mary Burnett regarding the Margaret Centre reveals that Waltham Forest, Redbridge and Essex councillors have now had two meetings of the special joint committee created to debate the hospital project and have recommended that a “discrete inpatient facility” for end-of-life care be included in the new Whipps Cross.
Whipps Cross bosses provoked outrage this week by revealing they do not plan to formally consult on designs for the new hospital.
Another important article by the Waltham Forest Echo's new editor Victoria Munro regarding the Planning Department meeting on Wednesday 24th November at which the plans for the new hospital were rubber-stamped and accepted without amendment in the face of enormous opposition from a rally on the steps of the Town Hall and most of the speakers from the floor at the meeting itself.
Two articles from this month's (November 2021) Waltham Forest Echo:
A slightly modified Planning Application has been lodged for the new hospital and this document has been prepared to provide a response to the main comments which have emerged as part of the statutory consultation process associated with the determination of the two Planning Applications, 211455 and 211245. A lot of clarification of the details is provided.
In a widely reported Press Release Barts have responded to public concern and say that they won't be cutting bed numbers or the Margaret Centre. If only it were as straight forward as that. A much more detailed account of the new plans is contained in an open letter from Alastair Finney, Redevelopment Director on the Whipps Cross project, to MPs John Cryer, Stella Creasy and Iain Duncan Smith. We have drafted a statement in response to the letter pointing out a considerable number of aspects that require clarification.
Lewis Carroll's character Humpty Dumpty in Through the Looking Glass declares that "When I use a word it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less." As these two documents show, Sajid Javid would be eager to agree.
Further to the two items above, article by John Lister in The Lowdown (27th August 2021) going into the affair in more detail
An article by Nick Carding published yesterday (29 July 2021) in the HSJ Newsletter, draws our attention to a demand from the new Hospital Programme team which oversees the government’s “40 new hospitals” programme that eight “pathfinder” trusts limit their final spend to £400m, as well as imposing some other requirements likely to delay the completion of the programme.
Nick Carding, writing in today's (15th July 2021) HSJ Newsletter, draws our attention to construction capacity concerns regarding the government’s flagship hospital building programme. Natalie Forrest, the programme’s senior responsible officer, insists the plans to build “40 new hospitals” by 2030 remained on track overall, despite initial delays to individual projects. It comes as NHS trusts were invited to bid for a share of capital funding to build or redevelop eight more hospitals, as part of the programme. You can view a PDF of the article HERE or if you are a registered member of HSJ read the original HERE.
An article by Victoria Munro (Local Democracy Reporter) in the Waltham Forest Guardian (9th July 2021) has pointed out that treatment units for almost 300 patients with kidney failure are not included in plans for the new Whipps Cross Hospital. The article is currently available to read on the Waltham Forest Guardian website or can be downloaded in PDF format from this site.
The "Waltham Forest Echo" No. 76, July 2021, carried this article about correspondence between John Cryer, Stella Creasy and Sir Iain Duncan Smith regarding the proposed loss of bed numbers and services like the Margaret Centre in the new Whipps Cross hospital.
Our final objections to the Planning Proposals for the new Whipps Cross Hospital:
This excellent article posted by Ashley Bridge in the Barts Health Trust News on Friday, 21st August 2020 was discovered by a member of our Margaret Centre sub group and we felt it was well worth bringing it to everyone's attention. In it Lizi Oni, Community Palliative Care Nurse, talks about her experience working with the community team based at the Centre.
AdrianStannard of WF Civic Society has suggested that we display these links to sections of the Planning Department website as they will be very useful to people looking for specific items in the Planning Applications:
Correspondence to Barts Trust from our MPs: John Cryer, Iain Duncan Smith and Stella Creasy. It details concerns about the inadequacies of the plans for the new Whipps Cross Hospital in meeting the needs of their constituents.
Reply to the above correspondence from Alistair Finney, Redevelopment Director for the new Whipps Cross Hospital project.
The Planning Applications for the new hospital and the sale of the land have been formally submitted and can be viewed on the council website (Application Nos. 211244 and 211245). The closing date for lodging objections is Wednesday 16th June 2021. We have created a very simple document based on the information on Adrian Stannard's Blog to help you to register and make your views heard. It includes information to help you to identify areas of concern and plan your response.
The Waltham Forest News (free handout newspaper/propaganda sheet of Waltham Forest Council) has just published an article listing what we can expect from the rebuilt Whipps Cross Hospital. It looks like we never had anything to worry about. Are you convinced yet?
Highly supportive Letter from Redbridge Health Scrutiny Committee to Albert Finney, Director of the Redevelopment Plan, regarding shortcomings in the proposals, which was the outcome of very productive meetings on May 4th 2021 attended by Mary Burnett of Action4Whipps.
Article in "Building", the magazine of the construction industry, 6th May 2021 tells of The NHS trust behind the redevelopment of Whipps Cross hospital in east London handing back more than £10m in funding after it failed to spend it on the construction programme last year because of covid.
This article by Andrew Fisher which was spotted by Mary Burnett in the Guardian details the evidence for a Government campaign to pursue a policy of privatising the NHS by stealth and piecemeal legislation changes that do not attract much media attention, particularly under the cover of the pandemic.
This Ilford Recorder article by Victoria Munro details some of the misgivings stated by councillors with regard to reducing the number of beds in the new Whipps Cross Hospital.
Letter drafted by Molly Cooper to send to all Waltham Forest councillors about the Whipps Cross Redevelopment (PDF format). The letter will need to be sent to each of the three councillors in each ward in Waltham Forest. People will need to add their councillors name and their address at the top of the letter to get a response from their councillor. In view of the difficulty of editing a letter in PDF format here is the same letter converted into Rich Text Format (RTF) which will open in any version of Word for additions and editing.
Letter that has been sent to all candidates for London Mayor explaining what our campaign is all about and requesting urgent action. This letter represents a very good summary of the state of play of the Action4Whipps campaign in late April 2021.
WFOC
This blog by Adrian Stannard published in the Waltham Forest One Community Blogspot explains the basic powerlessness and frankly fraudulent nature of Planning Committee "public consultations". It's entirely smoke and mirrors, folks!
Rebecca Thomas, writing in HSJ, the journal for Healthcare Leaders quotes Natalie Forrest, senior officer responsible for the New Hospital Programme (more commonly known as the “40 new hospitals” programme) as saying that decisions have not been made over the order in which trusts will receive funding. This, Thomas says, seems to leave open the possibility that some of the frontrunners in the scheme including Barts Health Trust might need to wait until the next injection of funding in 2025 before putting spades in the ground.
The long promised replies to questions asked by participants at the three recent "Future Whipps" public Zoom meetings organised by Barts Health Trust have today (24th March 20210) been added to the FAQ section of their website. Future updates can be viewed by visiting the Frequently Asked Questions page on the Barts Health Trust website.
Detailed Demolition Plans for The Former Nurses Home on the new Whipps Cross Hospital site
from a link in Stella Creasy's newsletter, 22nd March 2021. Originally published June 2020.
East London and West Essex Guardian article ~ 18th March 2021: Councillors seek expert advice on reducing Whipps Cross beds
At a meeting on March 17th, councillors on Redbridge Council's Health Scrutiny Committee agreed to seek an independent assessment of the case for having 51 fewer beds in the new Whipps Cross Hospital . Cllr Beverley Brewer said, “I think the assumption that we can operate on these 50 fewer beds is unsafe, I think there’s been unrealistic forecasts."
Waltham Forest Echo front page article Updated designs for Whipps Cross unveiled (1st March 2021)
This is a broad ranging Department of Health publication that gives an overview of their policies on the new generation of hospitals General design guidance for healthcare buildings
In August 2020 the Policy Exchange think tank conducted a survey on what people wanted from the new generation of hospitals. This was the result.
Article in the Redbridge edition of the East London and West Essex Guardian, 10th November 2020
Waltham Forest Echo editorial (10th September 2020)
An Alternative Vision for Whipps Cross Hospital ~ Waltham Forest Civic Society, September 2020
Land sell off at Whipps Cross ~ Save Our NHS blog (Word file, July 2020)
Whipps Cross Redevelopment Master Plan (link to website)
Regeneration: Whipps Cross Hospital Development (link to website)
"Palliative plans?" by Julie Donovan – an impassioned plea to retain the Margaret Centre in the new Whipps Cross Hospital.
Architect about to be appointed for Whipps Cross scheme (June 2020, link to website)
Aecom to manage new Whipps Cross Hospital design (October 11 2020, link to website)
Facebook entry detailing the history of Whipps Cross Hospital
In response to our letter and many other letters and questions Barts Health Trust are now going to review their plans for the Margaret Centre and Palliative Care and End-of-life care in the new Whipps Cross hospital. This shows the impact of public pressure & campaigning; there's still a lot for us to do if the Margaret Centre really is to be reprovided. |