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...

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

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.