Bethnal Green Hospital - The First Casualty Dept Work-In 1978

Hospital staff at Bethnal Green hospital, east London were told in October 1977 that the local Area Health Authority wanted to reduce services at the hospital to just care of the elderly. Immediately a Tower Hamlets Action Committee was established with over 700 people attending the first meeting held on 24th November 1977.


On the 26th November, 102 East London GP's signed a 13 point statement opposing the closure

Bethnal Green and Stepney Trades Union Council issued a detailed paper objecting to the plans and asking that alternatives be drawn up to develop Bethnal Green.




On the 28th January 1978 over 500 attended a march from Weavers Field to the London Hospital to protest at the closures.

In March it was agreed that a regular picketing of the hospital should take place to highlight the plight of the hospital

On the16th March 1978 at another huge meeting Bethnal Green Hospital is declared unanimously a "protected hospital"


A planned march against hospital closures in East London arranged by Plaistow Hospital campaign on 18th March is banned by the police due to events in Lewisham

30th March 1978 60,000 marches pass Bethnal Green hospital on their way to the Rock Against racism Carnival in Victoria Park

10th March a 2 hour stoppage is staged in five East London hospital's in opposition to the health cuts

30th March East London Hospital unions call strike action in nine hospitals for between six and twenty four hours, the Royal London and Mile End hospitals stop all routine work for 24 hours. 800 campaigners march to the Health Authority headquarters to protest

THE WORK-IN BEGINS

1st July 1978 at 8pm ,the time of the official closure, the hospital staff, applauded by a large crowd of local people and filmed by the News at Ten (ITV) put up a notice announcing the occupation of the casualty unit at Bethnal Green hospital. Detailed arrangements are made with medical staff, GP's , The Emergency Bed Service (EBS) to guarantee admissions and safety.

The first hospital casualty work-in in history begins with patients arriving at 8:02

On the 30th July managers arrive at the hospital threatening staff with legal action, nursing staff instruct under threat of dismissal to move, medical staff who refuse to do so are "harangued" and threatened. The Bethnal green Hospital work-in is called off on 3oth July 1978 having treated over one thousand local patients

Key individuals included - Many volunteers and Dr David Widgery ,Dr Leibson, Dr Thompson, Mr Frohn (Consultant) Sister Gainsford, Mrs Cox NUPE,, Zena Lee, Ann Sargent, Albert Vanner, Jane Salvage, Kambiz Boomla any many others

Keep Bethnal Green Hospital Campaign booklet
The NHS in East London - What Lies Ahead ? Jane Salvage and Kambiz Boomla

Bethnal Green Hospital was occupied by staff and supporters on 1st July 1978

Leeds Hospital Laundry Workers Work-In

Leeds Hospital (Laundry) Sit In 

Circa 1981


Community Action No 62

Attempts by health chiefs at St.James Hospital, Leeds , to slash laundry workers wages by 5% and cut bonuses from 33% to 27% have been met with fierce resistance from staff.

Workers are staging a sit-in  at the hospital which is just one of the many which have the £600.000 - £800,000 hacked off the Leeds Health Authority budget this year.

Average take-home pay at the laundry is £45 for the women, who work on average 32 hours per week, and £77 for the men, who average 46 hours a.week.

 Suzi Armitage, COHSE Branch secretary, explained that £160.000 is  to be cut from the laundry service
  over the next two years, as the authority plans to bring 'manning  levels' into line with reduced demand.

 Management are likel.y to introduce a number of proposals to make efficiency savings,.including natural wastage and the threat of bringing in private contractors.

 Laundry services are among the areas of hospital work ear-marked for orivatisation by the government, which issued a circular to health authorities telling them to look at contracting-out such
services far more.

The main point of the threat of  privatisation is to drive wages down to the lowest possible levels as has been happening in council services privatised. If the workers won't accept pay or job cuts from the authority, then contractors are brought in to enforce them.

 But the workers are ready to fight. As the one health union official put it :
 "If we let them get away with this , riding roughshod over agreements, then. they'll be able to get away with anything". 

With further he'alth cuts on the way,and privatisers hungry for proftable contracts, the attacks will no doubt increase. The battle in Leeds could be a vital early one in a long war.

NHS Direct staff stage "Work-In" at Nottingham to defend Patiet Care

East Midlands NHS Direct staff have been joined by colleagues in Cornwall as they stage a "work-in" to expose problems with the replacement 111 service being rolled out from August.

Nursing and Health advisors providing NHS Direct helpline services to Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire and Lincolnshire are reporting for work in their own time to take calls to highlight the valuable work they do and ensure that patients get the best possible quality of service on the NHS's 64th birthday.




Staff are deeply concerned about the affect the change will have on patients and on health services. The new 111 service has far fewer nurses taking calls - 75% of calls to NHS Direct are currently taken by a nurse, under the new 111 service only 17% will be. NHS Direct has two qualified nurses to every health advisor – NHS 111, has six health advisors for every nurse.




The 111 service will not clinically assess patients, or give them access to emergency dental or contraceptive advice. People suffering mental health problems from patients engaged in self harm or depression will not longer be able to get the help they need by calling NHS Direct. This will lead to more patients being sent to A&E, GP surgeries and more ambulance 999 call outs, and could see longer waiting times as these health services are pushed to breaking point.

UNISON has also repeatedly requested that the Department of Health publish the findings of a report undertaken by Sheffield University into the new NHS 111 service which we believe highlights the likely impact on A&E and GP Services.

Sandra Maxwell, UNISON NHS Direct Nursing Convenor, said: “UNISON nurses and health advisors will be taking action on 5th July 2012 (NHS Day) - the 64th anniversary of the founding of the NHS - to urge the Department of Health to stop rolling out the 111 service until it has been fully evaluated. It must also come clean and publish its evaluation of the NHS 111 service.

“Those living in rural areas seeking advice on injuries they have had or their child’s illness, will have little option but to travel long distances to attend A&E, when advice previously given by a qualified NHS Direct nurse may have resolved the issue.”

Michael Walker UNISON National Officer, said: “UNISON has repeatedly called on the Department of Health to publish the Sheffield University evaluation into the NHS 111 pilot services and to undertake formal public consultation on the closure of NHS Direct, with the public, GP's and health professionals. Despite a legal requirement, this has not happened to date.

“UNISON is particularly concerned that the new 111 service has fewer nurses available to take calls and therefore unqualified staff will be unable to carry out vital “clinical assessments”. This will inevitably lead to a huge increase in people turning up to A&E departments, to ambulance call outs and more patients being referred to GP surgeries.

UNISON estimates that 50 extra patients a day could present themselves to A&E departments and 1,000 extra ambulance call outs (costing £800 a time).

As staff in Truro took the same action in soludarity, Michelle Goodman UNISON Nursing Rep at Truro said: "We feel passionately that as nurses we need to let the public know what is happening at NHS Direct and in particular the loss in access of emergency nursing advice under the new NHS 111 signposting service"

St Benedict's Hospital (Tooting) Occupation 1978-1980

LEAFLET

SUPPORT ST BENEDICT'S

23 arrested while defending St Benedict's Hospital

For 6 days in mid-September, St Benedict's Hospital..work-in was systematically and viciously raided by the Wandsworth,Sutton and East Merton Area Health Authority (AHA), backed by a large force of police and a scab private ambulance company, Junesco.

By September 19th, 63 patients had been Forcibly removed from the friendly security of their beds and wards and dispersed in chaos to a variety of other hospitals in the area.

The staff at St Benedicts began their official work-in:to prevent closure of their hospital on November 15th 1979. A very strong support committee was organised in the local community with backing from Battersea and Wandsworth Trades Council, local pensioners and others who wanted to maintain the high level of geriatric care at St Ben's. Local London Ambulance Service (LAS) ambulance drivers pledged their support and refused to cross the picket line except for normal transport.

IT WAS BECAUSE THE WORK-IN WAS SO SUCCESSFUL, that management (with the agreement of Patrick Jenkin, secretary of state for Health and Social Security) was forced to resort to intimidation, confrontation and violence to break the staff and campaign organisation, and force closure of the hospital.

DIRTY TRICKS

1) To break the strength of the work-in, the AHA took legal action by serving injunctions against 8 leading members of the work-in' This included 4 staff members (from COHSE, NUPE and the RCN), 3 union officials (NUPE and COHSE) and 1 local campaigner.

This was to prevent those named from doing any thing to prevent the removal of patients and to prevent the union-officials from entering the building.

2) The police used the excuse of the new Employment Act to impose an arbitrary limit of 2 pickets only. Then on the fourth day of the raids, they refused to allow any pickets on the gate at all, and the private ambulances got through.

3) As a direct result of the raid, 23 pickets were arrested. The charges range from wilful obstruction to criminal damages. One woman who works in administration at a nearby hospital was suspended from duty, although she was at the picket line on her day off. (She is now waiting the outcome of an inquiry

St Benedict's campaigners calculate that fines arising from the charges may cost several thousand pounds.

THE FIGHTBACK GOES ON

34 patients remain at St Benedict's, and will probably remain there til November. Meanwhile the campaign against cuts, job loss and for decent health care for all continues, all over the country.

JOIN YOUR LOCAL CAMPAIGN. TAKE ACTION TO STOP CUTS.

GIVE GENEROUSLY TO OUR APPEAL FUND

ALL CHEQUES AND MONEY TO :

Battersea and Wandsworth, Trades Council
St Benedict's Defence Fund, 19 Oakland Rd., London SW11

WE APPEAL TO YOU - SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE FIGHTBACK AGAINST CUTS AND CLOSURES

Produced by FIGHTBACK (against health cuts) For St Benedict's Campaign
c/o Arthur Hautot, St Benedict's Hospital, London SW17


30 Camden Rd, London NW1

NOTE

St Benedict's was occupied by staff against closure from November 1978 until the raids in September 1980 and thus one of the longest running hospital occupations in Britain.

After the closure of the long stay geriatric hospitals, reports on the impact on patient care began to emerge labelled "relocation effects" it highlighted for the first time the impact of speedy closures on patients. Close to a third of patients forcibly moved in the "raids" dying within the first six months.

Arthur Hautot was later a St James Hospital (Balham) COHSE Steward, husband of June Hautot (picture below)

June Hautot

Arthur Hautot (left)