Dear Dame,
RBKC Health Services Scrutiny Committee is going ahead with a joint Meeting/Consultation with the Royal Brompton & NHS England on November 19th under the inexperienced chairmanship of Cllr. Marwan Elnagh.
But they might as well save their breath and avoid giving the dirty deed the fake respectability of public consultation.
The Brompton Board have already been instructed to support the move, and even worse-the original bribe of new ‘all singing all dancing’ premises at St Thomas has now been withdrawn...(or in polite terms ‘indefinitely postponed’)
This is disastrous because :
a) any theoretical efficiencies and improvements by combining sites and services will be lost as some services will continue on the current Brompton site for years to come.
b) because of ‘the mirage’ of an eventual new building at St Thomas, all maintenance and improvements to the Brompton buildings will now cease – so in 7 years time the building will be closed & flogged off because it will have become a slum and deemed unfit for purpose.
c) NHS England has had the brass neck to now style the move to St Thomas as a ‘Statutory Acquisition’ which, most conveniently for them, does not require public consultation.
So under the cover of the international pandemic (where ironically much of the fight back is actually taking place at the Royal Brompton) the sinister property developers who have now got their hands firmly on the future of NHS assets and services, are accelerating their plans to steal the people’s assets and close and sell the hugely valuable and convenient Brompton site.
One can only hope that the emergency scrutiny meeting on November 19th is not the usual festival of polite obsequiousness that Health Scrutiny has become under the new Labour Chair. For once let's not spend half the meeting thanking people for deigning to attend - no matter what rubbish and lies they spout.
At this meeting Councillors of all parties must scream and shout and not be polite as the world class services on Fulham Road begin to be withdrawn.
The medics and patients whose future is being sold down the river cannot make their voices heard so Councillors and local MP’s must speak for us all.
Let us all watch and judge which of our elected representatives do actually speak up for our interests and which sit there in silence or actively collude in the farce of public consultation after the decision has been made. Hammersmith council saved Charring Cross Hospital is there any chance that RBKC will try to do likewise?
One Who Knows
The council would be in a better position to complain about such things had the previous (Tory) Chair of the previous ASCH not effectively waved through the sale by the NHS (without proper consultation) of other building assets in the borough. It is interesting to note that one of the most vocal objectors over the Brompton fiasco is the self same individual.
ReplyDeleteWho is this turncoat?
DeleteStrange how if they're going to move out in 7 to 10 years they're spending so much money on a new building on Dovehouse Street.
ReplyDeleteOn 24th September the Dame wrote: "all-party unanimity at last night's council meeting as every speaker denounced the hospital's CEO, Bob Bell and his plans for the destruction of this great hospital."
ReplyDeleteIs all this fiery energy going to be for nought? Step up up Greg Hands and Felicity Buchan, whose side are you on?
One couldn't possibly speculate whose side Felicity Buchan is on, but she's made it crystal clear it's not her constituents. If it harms K&C residents, she'll vote for it!
DeleteSee you at the ballot box Greg.
DeleteAt the very least, if they cannot stop this disaster, they should insist that the whole site be inalienably dedicated to housing for key workers (hostels anyone?) and social housing - the sort of people who need rather than just want to live here
ReplyDeleteDon't be silly nor parochial. Nothing like this is ever done in the interests of residents. Most of the site will be sold as a private hospital catering for the global rich. And any housing development will be sold to ( but not lived in ) for the same group of parasites. The hollowing out of the borough with its attendant loss of residents and community has been warned against by the Cassandras of the Labour group for years. In this at least they have been proved right. Do I hear a call to arms for Cllr Henderson & his unlikely friends in posh Chelsea ?
DeleteWhen Ian Henderson beat off Affinity Sutton he had the support of enlightened 'posh' people in the neighbourhood. They shared regret at the despoiling of the historic nature of Chelsea.
DeleteWe will stop this. If they think they are going to get away without a fight you must be joking. Covid has tempered a response , we wait for our chance. The board can carry on with their 'Trumpian attitude ' to Chelsea residents. It's noted that Hands has been silent on this. Chelsea is watching you.
ReplyDeleteGreg Hands has suggested residents sign a petition. From the results of his previous petitions (Thames Water sewer, Fulham traffic blockade, Heathrow night flights...) I would not be optimistic but it might be worth a try. This is the text from one of his newsletters
ReplyDeletePetitions:
Petition on the future of the Royal Brompton Hospital
Greg Hands MP, Felicity Buchan MP, West Central London Assembly Member Tony Devenish, and Kensington and Chelsea Council, have joined together with local residents in support of the Royal Brompton Hospital and it remaining at the same site.
The RBKC Adult Social Care and Health Select Committee is organising a virtual meeting on 19th November to discuss, among other things, "the rationale for the merger..."
ReplyDeleteDetails here:
https://www.rbkc.gov.uk/council-councillors-and-democracy/open-data-and-transparency/adult-social-care-and-health-select
Unbelievable - in shock at the choice of chair, surely there must be accountability for this appointment error. But hey, who's watching?
ReplyDelete