Campaigners to stop the closure of Accident and Emergency departments in hospitals in West London are claiming that that they have recruited a key new supporter.

A cross-party delegation and campaigners from the Save our Hospitals Ealing campaign visited City Hall this week and put the case against shutting emergency provision at hospitals such as Hammersmith, Ealing and Charing Cross directly to Boris Johnson.

The meeting on 30th October with the delegation followed a request from local London Assembly Member Dr Onkar Sahota to meet the Mayor and discuss the issues specifically affecting Ealing as the worst hit borough under the proposals. The Mayor had previously refused to comment on the proposed changes. The Mayord agreed to write to NHS London, putting forward the impact of these proposals on Ealing’s residents and provision of health care.

Speaking after the meeting, local Assembly Member Dr Onkar Sahota said, “I am very pleased that after campaigning for many months, the Mayor has been persuaded to use his position to speak out for North West Londoners and support our campaign to keep these A&Es open. Hundreds and thousands of residents are genuinely concerned about the proposals to close the four A&Es in our part of London and Boris will be making representations on their behalf to the consultation.

“I hope that the Mayor’s input will help us fight these proposals. These A&E departments are already stretched and must be saved to ensure the safety of Londoners. At a time when London’s emergency services are already stretched this simply does not make sense. London’s population is also forecast to grow to 9 million people - how will the emergency services cope?

“These cuts are unprecedented and simply too much, too fast. The Mayor recognised that the magnitude of mobilisation of the local community, GPs and hospital doctors against these proposals simply cannot be ignored."

We contacted the Mayor's office who told us that Boris Johnson would be writing to NHS London about the delegation's concerns but they were unwilling to issue a statement on the issue.

November 1, 2012