Rhodri calls on Islington residents to rally for the Whittington this weekend (Islington Liberal Democrats)

Islington Liberal Democrats <Islington_ld@cix.co.uk>

Rhodri calls on Islington residents to rally for the Whittington this weekend

February 26, 2010 3:38 PM

Liberal Democrats protest the threatened A&E closure at the Whittington Hospital

Rhodri and team campaigning to Save the Whittington

This week is a crucial week in our fight to save the Whittington accident & emergency unit.

On Monday we presented our first 2,000 petition signatures to 10 Downing Street.

Now this Saturday we have a rally at Highbury Corner to show how angry our community is that closing the Whittington accident & emergency is even being considered.

It is vital that as many Liberal Democrats turn out on Saturday to show how important Islington's only hospital is to our community. Please come with your friends, family and neighbours.

While local Labour politicians wash their hands of any responsibility and cry crocodile tears about the possible closure of the accident and emergency, the facts are:

When Gordon Brown was Chancellor he effectively sold off parts of the NHS to private investors through his PFI schemes to keep debt off the nation's balance sheet.

Whittington Hospital is facing a bill of £158 million for refurbishment work that cost £32 million to carry out thanks to Gordon Brown's Private Finance Initiative.

Nationally, the NHS faces £ 63billion of debt for PFI hospitals worth £11 billion.

North London Central NHS, which is proposing the changes to services at the Whittington, is funded and managed by the Government's Department for Health.

We must not let Labour get away with this. So please come to the rally this Saturday at noon at Highbury Corner (by the Magistrates' Court in Holloway Road). Join us and make your voice heard - together we can fight this.

Yours sincerely,

Rhodri Jamieson-Ball

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Spokesperson for Islington North