Save King George Hospital campaign

Following this morning's services, there was a planning meeting held at St Paul's Goodmayes for The Save King George Hospital campaign. The campaign is a multi-party, multi-faith campaign to persuade Andrew Lansley, the Secretary of State for Health to stop the closure of A&E and maternity services at King George Hospital, Ilford.

Proposals to close vital services at Redbridge's only hospital have been approved. There will be no A&E and no maternity services provided resulting in a reduction in beds from 400 to 50. This means that most people who live in Redbridge will have to go to Queen's Hospital Romford. The effect will be:

• much longer travel times to get to a hospital, especially important for ambulances to get to A&E. Queen's Hospital Romford is 4½ miles from King George Hospital in Goodmayes along the A12, the worst A road in Britain;
• Queens Hospital will serve 700,000 people while inner London hospitals will each serve an average of just over 200,000;
• one hospital (Queens) will serve three boroughs, while the inner London boroughs will each have their own hospital;
• Queens will be unable to cope as this is already the case with ambulances frequently turned away because the hospital is full;
• no baby will be born in future in a Redbridge hospital;
• Redbridge will lose its maternity service while Barking has a new maternity unit;
• Redbridge will no longer have a major hospital while Barking and Dagenham will each get a community hospital.

This information comes from the campaign which is organising a public meeting, to be addressed by Iain Duncan Smith MP, Ken Livingstone, other faith and community speakers, at Ilford Town Hall on Friday 8th April, 6.00pm, at Ilford Town Hall.

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Sham 69 - Angels With Dirty Faces.

Family Health event

FaithAction, a strategic partner of the Department of Health, is hosting an event around Family Health on 9th February 2010. This event will showcase a number of members and their work in communities on the ground, as well as show their ability to work with those termed ‘Hard to reach’ and change the health of families in their communities.

Health and wellbeing affects every aspect of our lives and therefore faith based organisations have a key role in tackling such issues in their work in the community.

This event is for any organisation working with families in the community.

Guest speakers include: Philippa Stroud from the Centre for Social Justice; Avril McIntyre from LifeLine Community Projects; and representatives from the Department of Health Strategic Partners. Date: 9th February 2010. Time: 9:30am till 3pm. Lunch included. Free places are limited, so book asap. Venue: Royal Institute of British Architects, 66 Portland Place , London , W1B 1AD

The day will cover:

• Essential information on potential future government strategy for the Third Sector;
• The Role and growing important of the third sector in a recession;
• Briefing from Philippa Stroud, the Director of the Centre for Social Justice and a leading light on Conservative thinking; and
• Key insights from Department of Health and Strategic Partners.

This event will be interactive and will be an opportunity to both access information and also contribute to central policy agenda. This event is aimed at Chief Executives, Trustees, Senior Fundraisers and Third Sector Managers. To book your place or for further information, contact Felicity Holland on 0845 094 6350 or events@faithaction.net.

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Ian Dury - Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 3.