Rugby Labour were back out in Rugby town centre on Saturday 10th December. As well as collecting more signatures in opposition to the closure of Birch Ward, we were highlighting the issues of the upcoming NHS reforms being proposed by the coalition government.

These changes were not in either the Conservative or Liberal Democrat 2010 manifestos. In fact, both parties claimed to oppose ‘top down reorganisation’ of the NHS, and yet are now running full steam ahead with massive reforms – even before the legislation has been passed. The costs of the reorganisation will run into billions of pounds, which is coming from the overall NHS budget and there is no real evidence that they will result in savings.

The NHS is under threat nationally at the same time as closures are hitting our local hospital.

We now have nearly 1,500 names on the petition, and if you want to add yours, please sign the online version here: Protect St Cross Hospital

Rugby Labour Party continue their high-profile campaign against the decision by University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust to close the popular ward.

Labour members will be back in Rugby town centre on Saturday 10 December inviting all concerned Rugby residents to add their voices and signatures to the petition calling on UHCW Chief Executive Andy Hardy to publicly guarantee the future viability of the much-loved local hospital and reverse his decision to close Birch Ward.

The party’s decision to continue its campaign on behalf of the Rugby community follows the huge levels of support for the ward and St Cross hospital which Labour members witnessed as they collected over 1,000 signatures in just three hours.

Local Labour member John Slinger said:

“The strength of feeling we witnessed on the streets was clear – Rugby’s community greatly value the services provided by St Cross and are deeply concerned about the closure of Birch Ward. Despite assurances from the Trust about services, we share the community’s deep-set worry that the closure of Birch Ward threatens the long-term future of services provided at St Cross. People told us of the fantastic care they and their families have received on the ward over the years and their worry that vulnerable and older people will struggle with transport if services are transferred to Walsgrave.

“These and other reasons, such as the rapid growth of Rugby’s population, mean that Labour will continue to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the community in defending their local NHS services. We’ll soon be delivering our petition to the NHS Trust, to make sure there can be no doubt in their minds that Rugby’s community will fight to protect its hospital.”

The campaigning will start at or around the Clock Tower at 10.00am on Saturday 10 December, 2011.

The petition reads:

“We the undersigned wish to protect the future of St. Cross Hospital and the services it provides to the local community. We condemn the decision of University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust to close Birch Ward at the Hospital of St. Cross and petition that this decision be reversed and the long-term future of the hospital be unconditionally confirmed.”

The petition can be signed online here: Protect St Cross Hospital.

Rugby Labour Party members were out in force yesterday in Rugby town centre collecting signatures for their petition against the closure of Birch Ward at the Hospital of St Cross, which is happening this week – on 30 November 2011.

They collected over 1,000 signatures from concerned members of the Rugby community in just three hours, indicating the strength of feeling in the town about this cut to local services.

The signatures will be delivered to Andy Hardy, Chief Executive of University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust.

Local Rugby Labour Party member John Slinger said:

“Rugby Labour members today stood shoulder to shoulder with the people of Rugby against the closure of Birch Ward

at the Hospital of St Cross. That we collected over 1,000 signatures in just three hours shows that the community is deeply

concerned about the closure of Birch Ward and wishes to see a long-term future for St Cross Hospital.”

For more information, please contact John Slinger on 07970 847231 or johnslinger1@gmail.com.

If you missed us and want to show your support, please sign the online version: Protect St Cross Hospital at Petition Online

UPDATE: John Slinger, the local member who organised the petition, has blogged about the media reaction to the start of our campaign.

Birch Ward may now have been shut this week, but we promise that we will keep the pressure up on the Hospital Trust to protect and restore important services to St Cross for the people of Rugby and surrounds.

Labour members will be in Rugby’s streets from 10.00am – 1.00pm on Saturday 26 November asking people to sign a petition calling on University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust to reverse its decision to close Birch Ward at the Hospital of St Cross and confirm the hospital’s long-term future.

• Rugby Labour Party calls on University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust to reverse its planned closure of Birch Ward at the Hospital of St Cross from 30 November.
• The closure of this ward and the way its services will be provided in the future will have a detrimental impact on the local community and those users of the services provided by Birch Ward, particularly the elderly and those reliant on social care.
• The closure may well comprise the future viability of the St Cross hospital and ultimately lead to its closure. Rugby’s Labour councillors have taken the lead by demanding that the Chief Executive of UHCW carries out a full consultation on any changes to services in Rugby and also have called for a special meeting of Rugby Borough Council.

In a week when youth unemployment nationally has reached a record 1.016 million, it is  apt that Labour leader Ed Miliband and Shadow Business Secretary Chuka Umunna recently visited Rugby to discuss Labour’s five-point Plan for Growth with students.

Ed revealed that youth unemployment in Rugby has has doubled in the last nine months alone at the West Midlands Labour Conference on the following Saturday.

The coalition government is attempting to attribute their poor record on jobs and growth to the recent Eurozone crisis. However, UK growth started to stall a year ago. Young people are particularly vulnerable at a time like this, and policies such as abolition of the EMA and forcing people to work for longer before retirement make it harder to gain skills and employment.

Having seen the responses of Mark Pawsey MP (Conservative) and Councillor Jerry Roodhouse (Liberal Democrat) to the proposed closure of Birch Ward, Rugby Labour Party invites them to join us in a broad campaign against the cut. It is clear that they know their constituents will not be happy about it, but there are ways that we can fight. It seems that there was no real consultation before the decision was reached. Several local agencies dealing with health were not aware of the plan until it was made public, but they will have to deal with the outcome.

It would be regrettable if local representatives of Coalition parties tried to pin all of the blame on the last Government. This government has decided to use £3 billion out of the NHS budget to pay for a top-down reorganisation no-one else wants. Insistence on efficiency savings seems to be forcing Trusts into tough decisions. However, even with the national financial position, UHCW had a duty to involve the local community and health professionals before announcing a closure at such short notice. We call upon the other parties in Rugby to join with us to challenge the way that the decision was reached and to explore the potential for a judicial review if the Trust will not reconsider.

On Friday (11th November), Labour Leader Ed Miliband came to Rugby as part of the national and local campaign for the Five Point Plan for Jobs and Growth

He was joined by local Councillor Ish Mistry and Chuka Umunna, the Shadow Business Secretary, at a Question and Answer session with students at the Power Academy, part of South Warwickshire College. The new college building and links with local industry are a great example of how Labour in government was acting to renew industry and encourage training and education.

Ed and Chuka faced tough questions from the audience, showing that young people are able to engage with politics. For local press reports, please see:

Coventry and Warwickshire Telegraph report

Rugby Advertiser stub

Rugby Observer article

Chuka Umunna (left), Ish Mistry (center) and Ed Milliband (right) at Rugby's Power Academy

The following letter was sent to the Rugby Advertiser for the 3rd November edition. The original version included links to back up John and Paul’s points.

Dear Sir,

Cemex’s threat to leave Rugby because of the Government’s tax policy and soaring energy bills is a timely reminder that disastrous economic policies at the national level can have a devastating effect locally. Hard-working voters are waking up to the gap between rhetoric from this Cabinet of millionaires and the reality of their disastrous economic policies. Mr Osborne lectured us that “we’re all in this together” yet only last week we read that FTSE-100 directors have awarded themselves an average pay rise of 49% despite pay freezes for average workers and sky-high inflation. Read more…

Labour councillors appalled by proposed ward closure at Rugby St Cross

News that the University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust are to close the Birch Ward at Rugby St Cross hospital from 30 November has angered Rugby Labour councillors.

Birch Ward is a medical ward which currently takes Rugby GP admissions, repatriated Rugby patients from Coventry and occasionally patients from A&E.  The majority of patients are older and often have some dementia.  Birch Ward also has patients with complex social issues as well as palliative care needs.  The 22 beds are constantly full mainly with Rugby patients and rarely has empty beds.  We believe the closure of this ward at the end of November and the way the service will be provided in the future will have a detrimental impact on the local community and current users of Birch Ward.

We also fear that its closure will impact on the future viability of Rugby St Cross Hospital and could ultimately lead to the closure of the hospital itself.  As local councillors we have written to register a formal complaint in relation to the failure by the relevant local NHS organisations to meet the statutory duty to consult with the local community and elected members.

We are demanding a full explanation and will be calling for a Special Rugby Borough Council meeting to discuss the proposed closure and the likely impact on the local community.  We will call on all local political parties for Birch Ward to remain open, and for cross-party support to seek a full judicial review into the way this service and other services have been removed from our local hospital.

The letter that has been sent by the Rugby Councillors to the Hospital Trust can can be downloaded from here (Word Document)

To all of the people who came out to vote, to all of our members and volunteers who helped during the campaign, and to our candidates, Rugby Labour Party gives hearty thanks.

Each of our existing councillors was returned with a higher majority than in 2007, and we strengthened our position in several wards, taking votes from the Liberal Democrats across the town and reducing the gaps. Unfortunately, we did not make any gains, but came closer in Overslade and Admirals. In Hillmorton and Eastlands, we moved up from third place to second.

The only change in the political balance was in Dunchurch & Knightlow, where the Tories took a seat from the Liberal Democrats.

Full results are on the Rugby Borough Council website