Diary date! Save St George's Urogynaecology services!

Tomorrow night - Thursday 12 November - at 7.30pm, there will be a Wandsworth Borough Council meeting at the Wandsworth Town Hall on the topic of the closure of the Urogynaecology departments at St George's Hospital. Patients will have to travel to Croydon instead.

Click here to read more about this threat to vital health services.
This week, members of the SW London branch of Keep Our NHS Public agreed to attend this meeting to protest against the closures. The plan is to meet at 7pm at the office of the opposition leader Rex Osborne (on first floor of Town Hall). The full address of the Town Hall is Wandsworth High Street (at junction with Fairfield St), SW18 2PU.

Everyone is welcome to join this vital action against possible further cuts to local healthcare.

Why you should be in Balham this Tuesday night

KOSHH campaigner Colin Crilly writes about why everyone who cares about the NHS should attend a public meeting this Tuesday night (27 October) at 7.30pm in Balham: 

If you believe all that you read and see in the media, you would be forgiven for thinking that the NHS is on its last legs, and no longer fit for purpose. However, there is a much bigger story going on, one that is nearly all but being ignored by our news papers and television: The privatisation of our health service.

St George's Hospital (Tooting) is facing huge financial problems, mental health services in Queen Mary's (Roehampton) are being cut, and now St Helier (Carshalton) and Epsom Hospitals are facing the real threat of being demolished. These cases are just the latest in a pattern that has gone on for the last 30 years or so, regardless of what party happens to be in power.

The fact is that a state-run health service is the most efficient health service. All of the layers of bureaucracy that have been introduced, as well as companies coming in with a profit-before-care agenda, have left our health service in the poor state that we see today. 

We also have the legacy of the appalling debts from PFI (Private Finance Initiative) contracts. These contracts come with outrageous levels of interest that will take decades to pay back. In real terms, government investment in our NHS has been reduced for some time. Beware, we are heading towards a US-style health insurance system.

If you are concerned about these issues, want to find out more, and would like to help save our hospitals and health services, we urge you to attend our public meeting on Tuesday 27 October. The venue is the Balham Baptist Church, 21 Ramsden Rd, SW12 8QX and the meeting starts at 7.30pm.

Click here for more information. 

KOSHH campaigners stand with junior doctors

KOSHH campaigners joined the junior doctors who marched in London on Saturday.

Here is a video from the march:

And here are some junior doctors share their experiences and explain why they are demanding negotiations with Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, over the grossly unfair junior doctors' contract:

KOSHH fully supports junior doctors as they fight for a fairer deal. The proposals from the Health Secretary will endanger patient safety and lead to the UK losing more doctors as they seek better, safer working conditions in other countries.

Update on our meeting with Merton CCG!

KOSHH campaigners had planned to meet with Merton CCG on 13 October. However, we have decided to postpone the meeting until after the Merton CCG has release its public response to the Epsom-St Helier Estates Review document.

Click here to read the document for yourself.

In September, we expressed concerns after the Merton CCG AGM. In particular, we are worried about the CCG's response to the Estates Review document as well as its inability to guarantee the future of any local hospitals. Click here to read about our concerns following the AGM.

At the AGM, it was encouraging that Merton CCG promised to release a public statement on the Estates Review in November. We believe it will be more constructive to meet with Merton CCG after they have made public their response to the Estates Review, a document KOSHH campaigners believe represents a threat to services at our local hospitals.

So, the ball is in Merton CCG's court. We await the November release of their response to the Estates Review. We also urge all CCGs that make decisions affecting Epsom and St Helier Hospitals to make public their response to this potentially game-changing document.

And, if need be, we will meet with all relevant CCGs to discuss the future of our hospitals in the wake of the Estates Review. South West London Collaborative Commissioning, over to you now...

KOSHH in the news! Featuring Tom Brake MP making curious statements...

KOSHH has made it to the front page of today's Sutton Guardian. It is always encouraging to get coverage in the media although we wish the future of our local health services was assured and we didn't have to keep waking people up to the real threats to St Helier Hospital, as well as other hospitals in south-west London and Sutton.

Click here for the link to the Sutton Guardian article.

It is curious that Tom Brake, Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton and Wallington, is only now saying the £219m earmarked for St Helier Hospital's redevelopment is off the table. Has he been paying attention? This has been the case for quite some time now. Click here for a story on this from 2012 and click here for another story about the £219m from as far back as 2010.

The letter Brake received in August from Jeremy Hunt should surprise nobody.

Given that it is well known that local Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) have been tasked with making "efficiency savings", it should come as no surprise to anybody who is paying attention that this money is not likely to be forthcoming. While it would certainly be more responsible to spend money properly upgrading St Helier Hospital instead of building a whole new hospital on the old Sutton Hospital site, at the expense of Epsom and St Helier Hospitals, as per the "traingate" leak, it is now apparent that we won't see a massively overhauled St Helier Hospital any time soon.

Yesterday was the closing date for public comments on the Epsom-St Helier Trust Estates Review document via the trust's website*. This document mentions £500m worth of investment is required. This would still work out cheaper than building a whole new hospital, along with the necessary road and public transport upgrades, for a new hospital on the Sutton site. That is a ridiculous plan which would mean at least 400 less beds for the local area and a hospital in a less convenient location than Epsom or St Helier.

It is also curious that Tom Brake described George Osborne's response to his question in the House of Commons about the future of St Helier Hospital as an "almost cast-iron guarantee". Leaving aside the metallic mystery as to what "almost cast-iron" is, a quick read of Hansard reveals that George Osborne simply gave a typical politician's answer in which no specific commitment was made and in which he was very careful to not actually mention the £219m sum.

Why did Tom Brake not make a bigger fuss about George Osborne's completely unsatisfactory non-answer at the time?

St Helier Hospital remains in limbo, with smaller upgrades taking place, but no overall plan in place to improve the site overall.

Furthermore, given that Tom Brake voted for the Health and Social Care Act 2012, which led to the creation of CCGs in the first place, why does he never attend CCG meetings to ask hard questions of the decision-makers who are spending our money? It would also be nice to see Tom Brake at Epsom-St Helier Trust board meetings too.

The CCGs, as well as the Epsom-St Helier Trust, need to be held publicly accountable for the way our tax pounds are spent and for their plans for the future of our essential local health services.

It is not just Tom Brake who should be doing this but all local MPs, regardless of political affiliation, and all local councilllors, especially those who campaigned on a platform of saving St Helier Hospital.

As we reported earlier this week, Merton CCG Chief Officer, Adam Doyle, was not prepared to make any public commitment to any of our local hospitals at last Thursday night's AGM. There are six CCGs, as part of South West London Collaborative Commissioning, involved in making decisions about our local health services. The lack of commitment to preserving our hospitals by Merton CCG is, most likely, the tip of the iceberg.

This story is far from over.

* A more detailed blog post on the Epsom-St Helier Trust Estates Review is coming soon.







Photography by Piotr Siedlecki

Merton CCG AGM: KOSHH's concerns

We attended the Merton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) Annual General Meeting last Thursday night and our concerns for the future of St Helier Hospital remain as strong as ever. The AGM organisers called for questions in advance. Despite this, the only questions submitted were from KOSHH.

Our first question was whether all members of Merton CCG have read the Epsom-St Helier Trust Estates Review document. As this is a possible blueprint for the future of both Epsom and St Helier hospital sites, we expect everyone involved with all relevant CCGs to have read it. This is not an unreasonable expectation.

Adam Doyle, the Chief Officer, confirmed that all members of the governing body have read the Estates Review but not all members of the CCG. This is disturbing to say the least. Why wouldn't all CCG members be compelled to familiarise themselves with a document that will have far-reaching implications on local health services?

We asked if anyone from Merton CCG could share their thoughts on the review but nobody on the panel was prepared to offer any comment.

We then asked if the CCG members see the Estates Review as a threat to the future of St Helier Hospital. Despite this being a yes-or-no question, no yes-or-no answer was forthcoming.

Most critically of all, we asked if Merton CCG is committed to the preservation of all services at St Helier Hospital. Again, this is a yes-or-no question but we started to get an answer that talked of challenges, issues and the need for repairs at St Helier Hospital but no definite response.

We asked for a yes-or-no answer and were told that the CCG could not commit to preserving the services at any hospital.

Our final question was to ask if Merton CCG was going to prepare a response to the Estates Review and whether it would be made public. Given that 30 September is the closing date for responses, this is also a pressing matter. Adam Doyle confirmed that Merton CCG would respond to the Estates Review and that their response will be made public in November.

It is hardly surprising that members of KOSHH did not leave the meeting feeling relaxed and comfortable about the future of vital services at St Helier Hospital. Given that the meeting repeatedly made the point that the area has a high birth rate and a growing population, it is shocking that Merton CCG is not prepared to make a strong and public commitment to preserving vital services at any of the local hospitals, including A&E and maternity.

KOSHH campaigners will be meeting with Merton CCG on 13 October and we will share the outcome of that meeting in the interests of full transparency and keeping the public informed on the threats to our local health services. We have been accused of scaremongering in the past but we maintain our position that the threat to St Helier Hospital's vital services remains and it has only been through the tireless campaigning of dedicated members of the community over many years that we still have this essential facility.

Merton CCG is not the only CCG responsible for making decisions that will affect the future of our local hospitals. KOSHH campaigners will also be holding the other CCGs that make up South West London Collaborative Commissioning to account.

Diary date! This Thursday! Merton CCG AGM!

The Merton Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) is one of the big decision-makers for healthcare services in South West London. Thanks to the Health and Social Care Act 2012, the CCGs are the groups that hold the pursestrings when it comes to the funding of our essential healthcare services.

Attending these meeting is one of the few ways that the people can engage with NHS decision-makers and ask questions.

The Merton CCG AGM is on this Thursday, it is open to the public and you can submit questions to ask of the governing body in advance of the meeting by emailing communications@mertonccg.nhs.uk - click here for more information.

To confirm your attendance, please email Tony Foote on tonyfoote@nhs.net

The vital info:

Merton CCG Annual General Meeting

Date: Thursday 24 September

Time: 6pm-8pm

Venue: Morden Assembly Hall, Tudor Drive, Morden, SM4 4PJ


Public transport directions: From Morden Tube Station, catch the 163, 293 or 413 from Bus Stop F. If you are on the 163 or 293, get off the bus at the eighth stop (Lower Morden/The Beverley). If you are on the 413, get off the bus at the 10th stop (Queen Mary Avenue).

From Raynes Park Station, catch the 163 towards Morden from Bus Stop S and get off at either Queen Mary Avenue (six stops) or Tudor Drive (seven stops).

From Sutton Town Centre, catch the 413 to Queen Mary Avenue (14 stops from Times Square, Stop J).

From Epsom Town Centre, catch the 293 bus from Stop C or Stop G (Epsom High Street) and get off at the Tudor Drive stop (22-23 stops).

Handy tips for journalists reporting on NHS stories

The standard of reporting on stories in the mainstream British media about the NHS is frequently lazy, inaccurate, incomplete or just poor. We received a terrific response to our blog post on 1 September about the terrible reporting across multiple media outlets on personal health budgets. We do not expect the standard of reporting on NHS stories to improve any time soon so we have put together some helpful tips for journalists who report on the NHS.

1. "NHS bosses" is a lazy term constantly used by journalists. While the term is OK for a headline where space is tight and the attention of readers needs to be grabbed, it is too vague for proper reporting. Within a report, the journalist should always clarify exactly who the "NHS bosses" are. Do they mean hospital trusts? Clinical commissioning groups? Simon Stevens? Jeremy Hunt? Chances are, the reporter is referring to either trusts or CCGs. This needs to be made clear from the outset.

2. When reporters for national newspapers and news channels are referring to trusts and CCGs when they talk of "NHS bosses", it needs to be made clear that these bodies make different decisions in different areas. The way stories such as the personal health budgets funding "treats" and the NHS funding gluten-free food were reported in recent weeks seldom made it clear that these funding decisions vary wildly between areas. Instead, we ended up with a warped narrative that made it sound like the NHS was morphing into a giant, nationwide hybrid of Greggs and Butlins.

3. It is important that readers and viewers are aware of what CCGs actually are. As NHS campaigners, we need to keep in mind that not everyone understands what a CCG is or the powers they have to make massive decisions about our vital health services - they are making decisions on everything from gluten-free food and IVF to hospital cuts and closures.

4. We realise that it can be hard to explain what a CCG is in every single media report. However, for journalists whose work appears online, it is easy to provide links to pages that can explain what CCGs are. Despite the limitations of broadcast time or space in print media, even a brief one-liner to explain CCGs would be helpful.

5. CCGs are just one outcome of the Health and Social Care Act 2012. If you are reporting on the NHS, you have the responsibility of reading this act as it has shaped the NHS as we know it today. If you are interviewing an MP who voted for this act, ask them if they regret voting for the act. Ask them if they take responsibility for any negative outcomes that can be directly attributed to this act.

6. When you are reporting about something that has gone wrong in the NHS, it should not be used as a stick with which to beat the entire NHS or a rallying cry to close down entire hospitals. When something goes wrong, it should be an opportunity for improvement, for ensuring that "never incidents" never happen again. Find out what trusts and CCGs are doing to make improvements if something goes wrong and hold them to account. If people are killed or injured, they should not be seen as collateral damage, as a reason to cut services.

7. When something goes wrong in the NHS, investigate properly. Find out if any private companies may have been involved. If there is an outbreak of infection in a hospital, for example, find out if the cleaning has been contracted out to the private sector, ask about the cleaning company's training procedures and how well their employees are paid. Is the incident related to staff shortages? Is the trust relying heavily on agency staff? Are patients receiving inconsistent care because of a lack of permanent staff?

8. It is especially important to find out about the extent of private company involvement in the NHS, especially when things go wrong or if CCGs and trusts are spending our money on private management consultancy firms. Unfortunately, private companies are exempt from FOI requests. This makes it hard to properly report on the NHS. This is quite deliberate, a conscious attempt to reduce transparency and keep people unaware.

You can and should make FOI requests of CCGs and trusts in relation to their private sector partners. You might not get a complete answer because of commercial confidentiality, but this should be noted in your report. You should also ask the private companies involved for comment whenever it is relevant and note in your report if they refuse to comment or did not return phonecalls or reply to emails.

9. Attend CCG and trust board meetings, especially if you work in the local media. They are open to the public. They are where big decisions are made and hard questions should be asked. Such meetings are usually held during working hours so it is difficult for many people to attend. The media has a responsibility to attend such meetings and report on what is said. This should be seen by local and regional journalists as being as important as attending council meetings.

10. Find out about vested interests, especially on CCGs. Clinical commissioning groups, as the name suggest, commission services, they spend our money. If CCG members have vested interests in private healthcare providers, they should not be commissioning health services. If you are reporting on a CCG, find out if their declared interests have been published online. If not, call them out on it.

11. Ask local campaigners for comment. We are always happy to talk to the media, may have good information from meetings we have attended, such as CCG meetings, and might offer you perspectives that you had not previously considered.

Does anyone have any more tips for good reporting on the NHS? Please feel free to leave them in the comments section below.

SAVE THE DATE! KOSHH pub quiz! Thursday 1 October!

KOSHH is holding a pub quiz to raise awareness about our campaign and funds to help us spread the word and fight to keep our local hospitals open.

We always have a lot of fun at our pub quizzes and the quiz mistress is already busy setting the questions - as always, there will be questions for everyone with topics ranging from pop culture to history to completely random facts.

Spread the word! Bring friends and family! And if you can donate a prize, please get in touch with us either in the comments, via Twitter @Save_St_Helier or on our Facebook page.

Date: Thursday 1 October.

Time: 7.30pm for an 8pm kick-off.

Venue: Morden Brook Pub, Lower Morden Lane, Morden. SM4 4SS.

Cost: Gold coin donation per player.

Public transport directions: From Morden Tube Station, catch the 163, 293 or 413 from Bus Stop F. If you are on the 163 or 293, get off the bus at the eighth stop (Lower Morden/The Beverley). If you are on the 413, get off the bus at the 10th stop (Queen Mary Avenue).

From Raynes Park Station, catch the 163 towards Morden from Bus Stop S and get off at either Queen Mary Avenue (six stops) or Tudor Drive (seven stops).

From Sutton Town Centre, catch the 413 to Queen Mary Avenue (14 stops from Times Square, Stop J).

From Epsom Town Centre, catch the 293 bus from Stop C or Stop G (Epsom High Street) and get off at the Tudor Drive stop (22-23 stops).



Photography by George Hodan

Healthwatch Sutton diary date, for those who can make it...

Healthwatch Sutton is holding a semi-public meeting about the Epsom-St Helier Hospital Estates Review. We say "semi-public" because people who want to attend cannot simply turn up on the day. Instead, they must RSVP in advance.

We are not sure how many people will be able to attend this meeting as it is scheduled for Tuesday, 22 September, from 2pm until 4pm. This makes it pretty much impossible for anyone with a day job to attend or people with childcare commitments. As such, Healthwatch Sutton surely cannot expect a representative cross-section of the community to attend?

On Twitter, we have asked Healthwatch Sutton if they would consider changing the timing of this meeting. If we receive a response, we will update this blog accordingly.

The Estates Review is important as it could well set our local hospitals on a path of downgrading or closure. Click here to read more about our concerns.

For those who are free from 2pm-4pm on 22 November, you will need to email sara@suttoncvs.org.uk or call call 020 8641 9540 to reserve your place.

We have struggled to get Clinical Commissioning Groups to hold meetings at sensible times. Now it seems that Healthwatch Sutton is following suit.

Could it be that Healthwatch Sutton is afraid of audience members asking challenging questions? KOSHH campaigners were involved in a farcical situation in July last year when a Healthwatch meeting about local health services descended into chaos and was called to an end half an hour before the advertised end time. The meeting organisers tried to enforce a situation where they would only take pre-approved questions in advance.

After the pre-approved and largely uncontroversial questions were answered, there was plenty of time left so the chair reluctantly agreed to questions from the floor. The meeting was called to an abrupt halt after Dr Phillip Howard embarrassed the panel with statistics about the trust's excellent A&E performance.

On top of this, it was a very Liberal Democrat-heavy panel and RSVPs and questions-in-advance had to be sent through the office of Tom Brake, Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton and Wallington. Healthwatch Sutton is meant to be non-political. We complained to the Charities Commission about this but, absurdly, got a response saying there was no problem with the event being administered this way. Nobody from the Charities Commission bothered to get in touch with KOSHH for more information.

In short, we are frustrated that not only are we having to beg CCGs to hold meetings in the evening so more people can attend but now Healthwatch Sutton is following suit.

If you can attend the Healthwatch Sutton meeting on 22 September, please feel free to comment at the end of this blog post about what happened.




Image by Linnaea Mallette

Update on personal health budgets in South-West London/Surrey

We received an excellent response to our blog post on personal health budgets, the poor media reporting of these budgets and what they may mean for health services in our area. Thank you to everyone who took the time to read the blog post and share it.

We have now put in freedom of information requests with all six Clinical Commissioning Groups responsible for our end of South-West London/Surrey.

These are the questions they have been asked:

1. How many patients in the CCGs which come under SWLCC's administration are on personal healthcare budgets?

2. What is the average amount spent per patient on these budgets?

3. Can you provide a demographic breakdown of who uses these budgets?

4. Without naming patients, is there information available on what sort of treatments these budgets are funding?

5. What happens to a patient if their personal budget runs out and their health has not improved?

The six CCGs have 20 working days to respond to the FOI request. As such, we will report back on September 29 on any responses we have received.

Summer houses on the NHS? Cutting through the news reports with questions for our CCGs!

Sky News led its bulletin this morning with attention-grabbing headlines about summer houses, holidays and sat-navs being funded by the NHS. Sky News didn't actually research the story themselves - that was done by Pulse magazine, which investigated how personal healthcare budgets are spent. Plenty of other media outlets have also run this story including the BBC, the Mirror,

At least the Guardian, the Telegraph and the Independent mentioned that it is Clinical Commissioning Groups - or CCGs - that are allocating the money courtesy of the personal healthcare budgets. That would be the CCGs created under the Health and Social Care Act 2012. But you'd sooner find a report about the colonisation of the moon by unicorns wearing saddles made of cheese than ever see a news report mention this act, which was passed in the last parliament by the Conservative and Liberal Democrat MPs.

Of course, the truth is rather more complicated than any of these reports imply. Credit where credit is due though - the Daily Mail, while not accepting comments on the article online, had the insight to run a decent Press Association report. This report featured an interview with a professor who pointed out that while personal healthcare budgets may seem attractive on the surface, they do reflect an ideology that is "consumerist and individualistic" and not evidence-based.

But the way this story has been largely reported serves insidious dual purposes.

1. It demonises patients in the same way that stories about misuse of A&E departments and GPs demonise patients. While misuse of A&E and GP services creates problems, it makes for cheap headlines that ignore the bigger funding issues. It is easier to mock the person who rocked up to A&E with dog poo on their shoe than get properly angry about things like the cost to the taxpayer of rotten PFI deals and administering the NHS marketplace, both of which squander billions of pounds each year.

While personal healthcare budgets are not compulsory, can we be sure that patients, especially vulnerable and elderly patients, are not pressured into joining this scheme? It has echoes of Jeremy Hunt's plan to put the price of medications on the packaging so we know how much we are costing the NHS every time we take a pill that we need to get better. This plays into the "mustn't be a burden" mentality, the fear of wasting NHS time, even if someone is in genuine need of care.

If these budgets are targeting the vulnerable, it becomes questionable as to whether they really meet the goal of helping people take responsibility for their health and wellbeing.

2. It is more NHS-bashing by the media, feeding into the public appetite for cuts. By highlighting summer houses, holidays and sat-navs, it makes people angry about profligate NHS spending and removes any subtlety from the discussion. A holistic approach to healthcare is important - and defenders of personal healthcare budgets will use this argument - but holistic treatments need to be evidence-based, especially when they are publicly funded.

Are personal healthcare budgets a sneaky way to funnel more money to the private sector right under our noses? Will patients be encouraged to use their budgets to fund private health insurance?

The Pulse report does not mention our local CCGs, which fall under the umbrella of South West London Collaborative Commissioning. But in the interests of full transparency, we have some questions for them about how they use personal healthcare budgets. As we are still fighting to keep essential services, such as A&E and maternity as well as entire hospitals open, these questions need to be answered.

If a representative from SWLCC could respond to the following questions in the comments section of this blog post, that would be much appreciated:

1. How many patients in the CCGs which come under SWLCC's administration are on personal healthcare budgets?

2. What is the average amount spent per patient on these budgets?

3. Can you provide a demographic breakdown of who uses these budgets?

4. Without naming patients, is there information available on what sort of treatments these budgets are funding?

5. What happens to a patient if their personal budget runs out and their health has not improved?

Diary date! Free TTIP film screening

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership - or TTIP - will have far-reaching implications on the NHS. To find out more, come along to a free screening of The Trouble With TTIP, a one-hour documentary.

Linda Kaucher from the Stop TTIP campaign will be on hand to answer your questions about what can be done to stop this secret US/EU trade deal.

Date: Thursday 3 September

Time: 7.30pm

Venue: Gorringe Park pub/cinema, 29 London Rd, Tooting, SW17 9HW. The pub is right next to Tooting Railway Station between Amen Corner and Figges Marsh.

Click here to find the event on Facebook.

Here is a short video to tell you more:

CCGs (or why campaigning to save the local hospitals is so hard...)

Campaigning to save your local health services often feels like being at the foot of a mountain. You start to climb, you feel like you've made some progress, and then someone at the top of the mountain drops a giant bucket of mud down the slope and you're pushed back where you started from. And you're covered in mud so you might feel a bit demoralised as well.

Additionally, it can be hard to know where to direct your complaints, demands and questions about threats to your local health services. And, even if you do know, it can be hard to then mobilise people en masse to join the fight.

It is all well and good to be angry at the government and the Health Secretary. But we also need to be aware of how NHS England now works as a result of the Health and Social Care Act 2012, which was voted in by the Conservative and Liberal-Democrat MPs in the last parliament.

This act created the Clinical Commissioning Groups - the CCGs.

CCGs operated in every region of the country. They make the big decisions. They hold the pursestrings. They have been allocated budgets and it is they who make the decisions about what health services the NHS will fund in your local area.

When you see the phrase "postcode lottery" bandied about in the mainstream media about patients being denied treatment or patients receiving treatment that may be perceived as a poor use of public money, it is the CCGs that are making these decisions.

The postcode lottery situations we see today are a result of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.

Therefore, it is somewhat curious that when the media reports on postcode lottery NHS stories that this pernicious act of parliament is never mentioned. This week, the Daily Mail screamed at us about "Doughnuts and pizzas on the NHS"! This is the sort of journalism that relies on short attention spans and people not properly reading articles. This report, about patients with coeliac disease receiving gluten-free food on prescription, mentions how the system works but only in passing with a "NHS rules for prescribing food vary area by area" and the occasional "some NHS trusts" thrown in for good measure.

No mention of the role of CCGs in all this. That'd be the CCGs created by a government the Daily Mail supported then and, in its Tory outright majority form, supports now.

And it's not just the Daily Mail offering poor information on this story. Carole Malone writes a context-free opinion piece for the Mirror that seems to imply that the NHS has degenerated into a profligate cake shop for all. And the Daily Express fumes in a similar manner with no mention at all of how gluten-free food on prescription varies from region to region.

It also comes as no surprise that the Daily Telegraph, a long-time cheerleader for the Conservative Party, did not mention regional variations, CCGs or the Health and Social Care Act.

The Independent offers an opinion piece from a coeliac patient which at least calls out the reporting as "alarmist" but there is still no mention of CCGs or the Health and Social Care Act.

The BBC this morning, to its credit, did indeed mention CCGs when reporting on this story on the breakfast programme. But if you didn't happen to be tuned in to BBC1 at around 8.30am today, you probably missed the lesser-spotted CCG mention.

So what on Earth does all this have to do with saving Epsom and St Helier Hospitals?

Quite a lot, actually. The media hysteria over gluten-free food on prescription, while certainly a topic worthy of discussion, has become part of the NHS-bashing narrative of the mainstream media. As long as there is a drive to denigrate the NHS at every opportunity by a compliant media, the CCGs, and indeed the whole system that has created them in Westminster, will go unchallenged.

The mainstream media cannot be bothered to remind the public about how the NHS is now structured with CCGs or how that happened when they report on such stories, even though this is 100% relevant.

And here, in our end of South-West London/Surrey, we have been challenging the local CCGs, which are grouped under the umbrella of South West London Collaborative Commissioning, about their plans for Epsom and St Helier Hospitals as well as their declarations of interest.

If only the media would join us in this endeavour.






Photography by Maliz Ong

KOSHH speaks out on CCG staff taking lavish trips

The Epsom Guardian today reported that staff from Surrey Downs CCG and North West Surrey CCG went on a luxury spa trip to Germany funded by a pharmaceutical company.

Click here to read the story online.

We were asked to comment and, in short, we smell a rat. Why would it be necessary to go to a luxury spa in Germany to discuss a constipation drug? We understand that the NHS needs to buy drugs from pharmaceutical companies. It would be impractical for the NHS to start manufacturing every single drug it requires, obviously. But we do not understand why Clinical Commissioning Group staff would accept lavish hospitality from these companies?

The CCG system is problematic. It is undemocratic. It is clearly part of a larger agenda to privatise the NHS. There are members of CCGs with vested interests in healthcare. How can anyone who stands to win an NHS contract be in a position to commission such contracts?

Now we have supposedly independent commissioners taking luxurious trips at the expense of pharmaceutical companies. How is this OK?

The Surrey Downs CCG Director of Commissioning and Strategy, James Blythe, defended the trip. He said that Cosmocol, the constipation drug discussed on the trip, had already been commissioned before the trip took place.

But Cosmocol is not the only drug in Stirling Anglian Pharmaceuticals' range. Click here to see what else they have on offer. They also sell an osteoporosis drug. And who's to say the company won't add more products in the future?

Surrey Healthwatch communications officer, Lauren Ter Kuile, said that nobody has been in touch to suggest there was anything untoward about this trip.

Lauren, now we know about this and we thank Chris Longhurst from the Epsom Guardian for informing us, we are indeed suggesting that there is plenty that is untoward about this trip.

Will this lead to a change in policy? Are more CCG members taking trips at the expense of private companies? The public deserves to know and deserves better.

Asking questions of the Epsom-St Helier Trust: Part II

We are still asking questions about the Epsom-St Helier Estates Review document via Twitter. This is not a simple review of bricks and mortar, it is a review with far-reaching implications for our local hospitals.

Click here to download your copy of the Estates Review. It is essential reading for anyone who is concerned about the future of our local health services.

In our online discussions with the trust, we have asked about how they plan to publicise the review and the feedback period. One of the methods that was mentioned was leaflets. As a small campaigning group, we know how hard it can be to distribute leaflets widely to raise awareness.

However, we thought that a hospital trust might have a few more resources for widespread distribution of leaflets in the catchment areas for Epsom and St Helier Hospitals. A cursory Google search reveals that leaflets can be delivered from £25 per 1,000.

We asked the trust how the leaflets will be distributed. Will they be sent to every household, for example?

Here is the response:

If you see one of these leaflets, please let us know!



Photography by Piotr Siedlecki

Asking questions of the Epsom-St Helier Trust, Part I

Yesterday, we informed the public that the Epsom-St Helier Trust's Estates Review document is not a benign document about mere bricks and mortar. It is about the very future of our local hospitals.

KOSHH campaigners are systematically going through the document and we have already started asking questions of the trust via our Twitter account about the review, the consultation process and how it will be publicised. We are disappointed that our local MPs and councillors are not publicly scrutinising the Estates Review or asking questions of the trust on behalf of the people who use Epsom and St Helier's NHS hospitals.

Today, multiple campaigners have asked the trust questions about the online questionnaire process attached to the Estates Review and how widely this will be publicised.

Questions from Twitter, Wednesday 30 July, 2015

The trust confirmed yesterday that the online questionnaire would be open until September 30. Here are some more questions from KOSHH campaigners and answers from the Epsom-St Helier Trust from today:

Q: Can you tell me the purpose of seeking views on the estates document? What is the objective?

A: Simply to find out what local people want from hospital buildings and facilities in the future.

This answer doesn't really tell us much. Surely local people want to continue to receive healthcare services from hospital buildings and facilities and for these buildings and facilities to be properly maintained so they are hygienic and safe?

So we asked another question...

Q: That's *what* you intend to discover. My question is why? For what purpose?

A: Do you think it might be best to have a conversation about this? We can organise a chat with one of our execs. Easier for you and us to share info that way!

We are finding it perfectly easy to ask questions via social media. We like the open forum, we like that the public can see the answers as we receive them. We will continue to ask questions about the Estates Review publicly in the interests of transparency.

The Epsom-St Helier Trust has expressed reservations about answering our questions via the 140-character format of Twitter. We agree that this has its limitations. With that in mind, we invite the trust to use the comments section of this blog if they would like to answer our concerns with more than 140 characters. This blog is set up so anyone from anywhere in the world can comment.

Raising public awareness about the Estates Review

KOSHH campaigners are deeply concerned about how widely publicised the Estates Review and the online questionnaire will be. We are quite sure that very few members of the wider public are aware of this review or that they can download the document and give their feedback to the trust. As such, we asked the following questions:

Q: Will you make the general public aware of this questionnaire about their local hospital? Do you want a wide response to the questions? Will you publicise it?

A: We'd love a wide response! Have asked GPs, councils, Healthwatch and community groups to take part.

Q: What about people outside of those groups?

A: We've been promoting it on the web, Twitter, public meetings and leaflet will be with us shortly!

Waiting for more answers

As yet, we have not received a direct answer from the trust on these questions:

Q: What will be done with the information garnered via the online questionnaire?

Q: In regard to the promised leaflets, how will they be distributed? Mailed out to all residents?

As soon as we have responses to these questions, we will share them via Twitter, Facebook and this blog. Spokespeople for the Epsom-St Helier Trust are more than welcome to respond to these questions in the comments section of this blog post.

We look forward to getting more answers as we carefully analyse the Estates Review document and we will share the answers as we receive them.



Photography by Charles Rondeau

KOSHH campaigner in the news!

It has never been easier to write to your local newspaper in this era of email. And with newspapers now online, the reach of newspapers goes beyond the traditional audience of people who actually buy newspapers or have them delivered. We urge everyone to be heard via the letters pages of our newspapers - it does not take long to send an email.

KOSHH campaigner, Philippa Maslin, features at the top of the letters page in today's Sutton Guardian. She expresses perfectly our frustrations with our MPs and the conflicting messages thet are sending out over the future of Epsom and St Helier Hospitals.

The Epsom-St Helier Trust Estates Review: This is not a drill! This is the future of our hospitals!

The Epsom-St Helier Trust has released the Estates Review document. At first glance, it seems like a harmless enough report on the bricks and mortar of our local hospitals. It might even be a bit boring.

But the reality is that the Estates Review document is rather serious indeed. It is a report on the future of our local hospitals, Epsom and St Helier. We cannot underestimate the importance of this document or the need for people to read it carefully and respond to it.

Click here for the link to the report. You will have to download a PDF of the report to find out what the findings are and what this might mean for our vital health services.

At the end of the link is a questionnaire so members of the public can respond to the Estates Review. The Epsom-St Helier Trust has assured us this is not the official public consultation. We should hope not - this has been released with minimal publicity over the summer holiday period when many people are away. The closing date for submitting your comments via the online questionnaire is Wednesday 30 September.

We would be horrified if this was the official consultation period and the process was just an online questionnaire, given that the report could provide a road map for the future of our hospitals.

KOSHH campaigners will be reading the Estates Review document very carefully as we have serious concerns about what it contents mean for the future of our hospitals. Rest assured that as we go through this document, we will be asking hard questions of the Epsom-St Helier Trust and we will be making our questions and their responses public. 

KOSHH goes to the pub!

KOSHH campaigner, Colin Crilly writes about yesterday's stall at the Morden Brook:

On the afternoon of Sunday 26 July, KOSHH had a stall at the Morden Brook pub*, as part of their event to raise funds for the Great Ormond Street Hospital. I was joined by Sandra Ash, David Ash and Dave Ash - we nicknamed ourselves CASH!**

We leafleted most people in the pub about the screening of Sell-Off, which will be held this Wednesday night. Click here for more information about the screening - this will also be held at the Morden Brook. We also got a few more petition signatures, which are always welcome. Additionally, more badges were sold, and we gave out quite a few KOSHH window posters. Click here for more information about how to get your hands on one of these lovely posters. 

After more than three hours, we packed up, and posted the remaining leaflets about the Sell-Off screening through letterboxes of a nearby street. As I left the pub, I met a lady by the name of Sandra, and gave her a leaflet - it turned out that she is a leading figure at the nearby church. She has promised to attend the screening and inform other members of the congregation about it. We have also been invited to be part of the church's open day in September.

Any actions like these, no matter how small, are always worthwhile. Every leaflet given out, or discussion participated in could be of pivotal importance. It all helps to get the message out that not only are our local health services under threat but also the wider NHS.

* Many thanks to the Morden Brook for their ongoing support with meeting rooms and event-hosting. Click here to "like" them on Facebook.

** Many thanks to Philippa Zielfa Maslin and Chris Stanton for their assistance in dropping off some essentials to the stall as well.

KOSHH raises awareness at the Morden Family Fun Day

Dave Ash, Philippa Maslin and Colin Crilly spread the word about the threat to our hospital.

KOSHH campaigner Philippa Maslin writes about our presence on the weekend at the Morden Family Fun Day, an annual event held in Morden Park.

Sunday 19 July 2015 was the Morden Family Fun Day and KOSHH were extremely pleased to be a part of it. Thank you very much to Andy Butcher for his help in making this happen.

The KOSHH stall drew a lot of attention throughout the day, with many people interested to know the latest news regarding the hospital, and to sign a petition addressed to South West London Collaborative Commissioning (SWLCC). This petition asks that SWLCC protects, maintains and improves not only St Helier Hospital, but also Epsom Hospital, St George’s Hospital, Kingston Hospital and Croydon Hospital. 

In addition, quite a few people donated £1 in exchange for a lovely KOSHH badge, and ‘a regular’ at St Helier Hospital bought one of our equally lovely T-shirts.

People who were born at the hospital, people whose children were born at the hospital, people who have attended A&E, people whose life was saved by hospital staff, and people who are regular patients – we met them all and, by gosh, did some of them have some moving stories to tell. It was clear that the local community’s high regard for and loyalty to the hospital remains undiminished, and that ongoing threats to the hospital are perceived as deeply unjust.

It was particularly notable that a number of visitors to the stall recalled a BBC London news report, from April, which unearthed a secret plan to replace St Helier Hospital and Epsom Hospital with a new medical centre in Sutton – a centre which would not be built until at least 2020, but which would have just 800 beds, as opposed to the current 1,200 beds. 

What was especially striking was that no one seemed to be aware of the Estates Review being conducted by the Trust, or that the Review’s recommendation that £500m needs to be spent on rebuilding St Helier Hospital and St Epsom Hospital stands in direct contradiction to the massive ‘efficiency savings’ that both the Trust and SWLCC say that they are being asked to make. 

Visitors to the stall were completely shocked by this latest development, with several saying that it was bad enough when the £219m that was promised to St Helier Hospital was suddenly returned to the Treasury.

Of course, the uncertain future of St Helier Hospital is part of a wider picture of NHS cuts, closures and privatisation, and KOSHH exists to fight for the whole NHS, as well as our local hospital. It was, therefore, heartening to hear from the Mayor of Merton, David Chung, that he was going to try to help us arrange a screening of an extremely important and powerful documentary about the horrific destruction of the NHS, Sell-Off: The Abolition of Your NHS (2014), in Merton Civic Centre. His support is most welcome and we look forward to working with him. 

KOSHH would like to thank absolutely everybody who took the time to visit the stall. We really enjoyed meeting you all!

Another diary date! The Trouble With TTIP film screening

TTIP - the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership - is something that KOSHH campaigners are deeply concerned about. The potential TTIP has to destroy public services in the UK, such as the NHS, is immense. Yet negotiations are happening in secret for a deal that could open up all government contracts to the US market and entitle US companies to sue our government.

But don't just take our word for it. There is a film screening of The Trouble With TTIP on Thursday 30 July at 7pm in Balham. The venue is the Balham Baptist Church, 21 Ramsden Rd, SW12 8QX, opposite the library. It's a five-minute walk from Balham tube station and the 155, 355, 249 and 255 buses will all get you there.

The guest speaker will be Linda Kaucher, the Stop TTIP campaigner who features in this documentary. The screening is free and all are welcome.


Photography by Circe Denyer

Dates for the diary! Screenings of Sell-Off

Sell-Off is an important independent documentary about what is really happening to our NHS. It helps explain why St Helier Hospital - as well as many other hospitals across the country - are currently under threat of closure or downgrading.

KOSHH has held several successful public screenings of Sell-Off and now there are two more coming up this month.

Diaries at the ready! Here are the dates!

Thursday 23 July, 1.30pm: There will be a screening of Sell-Off for the Merton Centre for Independent Living. 328 London Road, Mitcham. CR4 3FA

Wednesday 29 July, 7.30pm: There will be a screening of Sell-Off in the function room of the Morden Brook pub. Lower Morden Lane, Morden. SM4 4SS. There will be a Q&A session after the screening and, naturally, the bar will be open! The pub is located at the roundabout that intersects with Grand Drive - the one known locally as the Beverley Roundabout.

We'd love to see you at either of these screenings. It is a powerful film and everyone needs to see it.

KOSHH campaigners support the Newsquest journalists

KOSHH campaigner Colin Crilly has sent this message to Newsquest journalists in support of their recent industrial action:

On behalf of our group, I would like to wish Newsquest journalists all the very best of luck in your ongoing struggle.

It is essential that there are experienced local reporters, covering local issues, to help keep local people informed. For democracy to work, authorities, and their actions must be scrutinised, especially by those who are familiar with those issues.

We feel that this is what we have in common. Reporters and local media highlight these important news stories, and campaigning groups dissect and challenge them. Between yourselves and groups like us, the public are much more aware than they would otherwise be.

In the past, Newsquest journalists, in particular at the Sutton Guardian and Wimbledon Guardian, have reported on many of the issues that we campaign on, and we are very grateful that you have done so. We hope that this will continue for many years to come, and in doing so, you will assist us in saving not only St Helier Hospital, but also the wider NHS as a whole.

Best wishes,

Colin Crilly
Keep Our St Helier Hospital (KOSHH)




Photography by George Hodan

What are we celebrating on #NHS67?

Today the NHS turns 67. It should be a proud day of celebration. We should be able to go about our business today relaxed in the knowledge that the NHS is properly funded, properly managed and always there for us when we need it. But we are living in curious times where, across the nation, campaigners are fighting for local services.

This is not how is should be on such an auspicious day.

We should not have to organise meetings in our communities to work out how we can keep our vital services, such as A&E and maternity, open.

We should not have to make Freedom of Information requests to find out from CCGs and hospital trusts how are money is being spent.

We should not see a penny of our money going to private consultancy firms, such as Deloittes, most of whom have clients with NHS contracts.

We should not be fobbed off when we ask questions about the impact of private contractors on our health services, such as private cleaning contractors and infection rates.

We should not have to remind people over and over again that the Health and Social Care Act 2012 is destroying our NHS and that all MPs who voted for it need to be held to account.

We should not have to beg and plead with the major political parties to come up with policies for our NHS that does not involve moving to a US-style, insurance-based system.

We should not have to march on the streets to demand that big corporations, such as Google, Boots, Virgin and Amazon, pay their fair share of taxes on profits made in the UK so that the NHS can be properly funded.

We should not have to struggle to tell people that PFI deals and the massive cost of the internal marketplace are putting huge cost pressures on the NHS.

We should not have to remind people that while there may indeed be an argument for charging people for the NHS if they are not entitled to use it, that money will only cover 0.06% of the total budget, despite disproportionate media reports about "health tourism".

We should not have to read and watch endless NHS-bashing reports in the media that offer no balance and only serve to whet the public appetite for hospital closures.

We should not have a situation where too many good people are leaving the NHS because the conditions are becoming intolerable.

We should not have our hospitals relying heavily on agency staff instead of employing permanent staff.

We should not have to beg and plead with CCGs to hold meetings at times that are convenient for more people and to properly publicise their meeting times.

We should not have to constantly explain to people what CCGs are and how they hold the pursestrings for major decisions about our hospitals.

We should not have to hear about cuts being euphemistically described as "efficiency savings".

We should not feel so powerless nor feel like the closure of our local hospitals is inevitable.

We should not have to do any of these things. And yet we do. Because if we don't, we won't have our local hospital and we won't have an NHS either.




Photography by Alex Grichenko

The £219m promise for St Helier Hospital...

It was an intriguing exchange in the House of Commons when George Osborne filled in for David Cameron at Prime Minister's Question Time and Tom Brake asked him about funding for much-needed upgrades to St Helier Hospital.

Here is the exchange from Hansard:

Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD): The Chancellor will be aware that under the coalition, £219 million was allocated to rebuilding St Helier hospital. Will he restate the commitment to that funding so that we can save St Helier?

Mr Osborne: We did commit to that hospital project, and provided that it continues to represent value for money, which I am pretty clear that it does, we will go on providing that support. What we have done is to commit to the Simon Stevens plan for the national health service—an additional £8 billion of NHS spending —which is something we can only do if we have our public finances in better order and we are growing our economy, which is precisely what we are doing.

In response to George Osborne's rather mealy-mouthed answer, Tom Brake put out the following press release:

Chancellor George Osborne promised that the new government would allocate £219 million to save St. Helier Hospital. He was challenged directly by Tom Brake, MP for Carshalton and Wallington, during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday. 

Mr. Osborne pledged to provide funding for St. Helier as long as the hospital “continues to represent value for money.” He said he thinks the hospital is performing well now.

Tom has led a campaign to save St. Helier hospital from harmful budget cuts for years. More than 21,000 local residents have signed his online petition to save the hospital, which can be found at http://www.saveoursthelier.co.uk/save_our_st_helier_petition.

Tom commented,

“I am pleased that Mr. Osborne has promised to stick with the coalition government’s plan to allocate £219 million to St. Helier Hospital. I intend to hold him to his promise. Our community deserves convenient access to essential healthcare services from a quality hospital like St. Helier. Osborne and the Conservative government must now deliver it.”

Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington) (LD): The Chancellor will be aware that under the coalition, £219 million was allocated to rebuilding St Helier hospital. Will he restate the commitment to that funding so that we can save St Helier?

Mr Osborne: We did commit to that hospital project, and provided that it continues to represent value for money, which I am pretty clear that it does, we will go on providing that support. What we have done is to commit to the Simon Stevens plan for the national health service—an additional £8 billion of NHS spending —which is something we can only do if we have our public finances in better order and we are growing our economy, which is precisely what we are doing.

Hang on a moment, Tom. Where exactly in George Osborne's response does he actually say the £219m is back on the table? He doesn't. He gives a slippery politician's answer.

Tom, a few things...

1. The £219m was taken off the table in February 2014, as we are sure you are aware.

2. How does this claim that the £219m is promised for St Helier Hospital square up with the £360m in "efficiency savings" that the CCGs are making? The numbers simply do not add up.

3. The CCGs hold the pursestrings here and both you and Mr Osborne voted for the Health and Social Care Act 2012, the very act that created the CCGs. So why are neither of you mentioning the CCGs?

4. Are you putting pressure on the CCGs to rethink the need for the £360m in "efficiency savings"?

5. Given that the Health and Social Care Act 2012 takes responsibility for the NHS away from the Secretary of State for Health and places it in the hands of the CCGs, does George Osborne or Jeremy Hunt have the authority to make promises about funding for individual hospitals?

6. Why are you still linking to your e-petition about St Helier Hospital when it is still addressed to the wrong body, pre-dates the election and nobody seems to know when it will be handed in?

We eagerly await your response, Mr Brake.

Keep Our St Helier Hospital campaigners take to the streets of London!

KOSHH campaigner, Colin Crilly, reports on the peaceful anti-austerity march held in London on Saturday 20 June:

The anti-austerity march in Central London was huge. Estimates of the number of people marching were as high as 200,000 in the media. Amongst these people, there was a high number of NHS campaigners.

KOSHH campaigners, Brian Hennessy, Saleh Mamon and myself represented our campaign. We took turns holding up the KOSHH banner throughout the march. We were able to link up with other NHS campaigners, such as the Lambeth Keep Our NHS Public group. During the march, prominent campaigner and editor of NHS SOS, Dr Jacky Davis took my photo.

 When I arrived at Parliament Square, I saw a fire engine. Sure enough, Steve, who let us use the fire engine for a protest in Sutton last year, was at the wheel. He sent his regards to all KOSHH campaigners and gave me his number in case we want to use the fire engine in future actions.

The rally had high profile speakers, including: Charlotte Church, Owen Jones, Caroline Lucas, Jeremy Corbyn and Russell Brand. At the finale, the crowd was encouraged to go into their communities to continue working hard and spreading the word.

Here are some more photos from the march.

On Wednesday July 8, there will be a further protest against an emergency budget from George Osborne - that is sure to bring more worrying news for our health services. Click here for more information.

Click here to order a copy of Dr Jacky Davis and Raymond Tallis's book, NHS SOS.