Save St. John’s Hospital

The NHS want to close St. John’s Hospital in Twickenham including the purpose built Mental Health Unit of excellence, specialising in the care of those suffering from Alzheimer’s.  Paul Lamplugh OBE, who has a long history of local campaigning, is the figurehead of the carers’ group most affected by the closure. The NHS intend to close the facilities, after putting them up for tender and have not yet identified any suitable alternative locations. The patients and their families are very concerned as support facilities for Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia are in short supply in this borough.

The closure seems to be being made solely on economic grounds. The NHS want to decommission the Mental Health unit and sell off the land and buildings. This decision does not take into account the previous significant reduction of similar care facilities for the long-term or chronically-ill whose carers and relatives rely on respite of this kind for their own well-being as well as that of their relatives.

The proposal to close this only 11-year-old unit appears not only confound common sense, but also to be against the Government’s own policies towards care for serious mental health.

It is to sad to see the government prioritising £23bn to inject in to Northern Rock, when it would cost a fraction of this amount to keep St John’s open for years to come. The ill-considered decision is also risible since the multisensory room, a recently opened facility, is one of the services to be closed. What a waste of money!

On 14th January 2008, Shadow Health Minister, Anne Milton will be visiting the hospital to see for herself the excellent facilities, meet some of the carers and do what she can in Parliament to help our case.

For more information, see:

Articles on the proposed closure in The Guardian:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/oct/21/1
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2195992,00.html

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Deborah Thomas

Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Twickenham

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Tel: 020 8878 7866
Fax: 020 8878 5054
Mobile: 07590 642038

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372 Upper Richmond Road West
East Sheen, London, SW14 7JU or send an e-mail to:

deborah@deborah4twickenham.com

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