Newham 8 trial charges switch Lobby backs Thornton View

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The trial has been delayed for a few days: but in the run up the police The Old Bailey is being picketed every morning from 9am - 10am.

Days 1 have been allocated to sections of the support campaign. nave dropped the conspiracy charge. Now the Newham o are to be charged with causing an affray — which can be just as serious. I November 22 is the day for socialist groups to staff the picket. carries the same maximum sentence as a conspiracy charge — life. Contact the Defence Campaign on 555 3331 for more details. maintenance.

The decision to close it last December in order to sell its quite spacious ground - a prime site worth well over a million pounds — was tied to the loss of acute beds at Wembley Hospital and the reopening of closed wards at Neasden.

I'he initial response of stati at LPf was to resist the closure, despite the fact that there were no compulsory redundancies involved. Over the months, however, individuals left or transferred to be replaced by agency staff or temporary staff and morale dropped.

The staff at LPH had not been involved in last year's pay dispute to any great extent and although the hospital was organised solidly in NUPE, shop steward structures were next to non-existent and there was a lot of work to be done to get a fight at the hospital.

During the spring, a relatives campaign was active but the DHA offered the relatives £6,000 for improved transport to the new hospitals. In the absence of an active campaign in the hospital this was accepted as the best deal available. Likewise early protest from medical staff fizzled out.

In fact LPH might have died On the Saturday pickets arrived at 8 am to find two specially adapted coaches in the grounds.

The firm, Chalfont Line Holidays, have a regular contract with the DHA. We were treated to the sight of administrators, agency staff and a few bewildered hospital staff loading frail old people into coaches.

As at St Benedicts it is likely that their chances of surviving the winter have been seriously lessened by the move.

Although, as has been said earlier, too little was done too late, certain clear lessons come through : • 1) Be on guard against the running down of conditions in the hospital - no matter how minor the faults may appear. The condition of parts of the LPH were cynically focused on and exaggerated by TV cameras in an attempt to show that pickets were keeping patients in an unfit hospital. This is reminiscent of the famous lift in the Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Hospital.

Don't given them the chance to run down and use it against the hospital staying open.

Constant monitoring of v Walter Leser and Keith Denny A well-lobbied meeting of Bradford District Health Authority took place on Tuesday 8 November where a decision was expected on the fate of Thornton View hospital.

A NUPE branch secretary was at first banned from the meeting but due to the ensuing uproar the decision was rescinded.

When challenged, DHA Chair Royston Moore said he could give no guarantee that health workers would not lose their jobs following closure - in fact he later specified that 546 jobs must go by March.

Responsibility for the closure has been transferred. to the Minister of Health, Norman Fowler, and informed sources suggest a police raid is imminent in the next few weeks, once Fowler gives the go-ahead.

Whimpered Moore, "We need a decision fairly soon on Thornton View and Shipley for us to make management manscenmant decisions". Evidently, Thornton View workers have no time for this style of managment decision.

Leading

The Thornton View occupation is leading the way forward for other hospitals facing closure - workers showing they will not accept Tory attempts to smash the NHS. However, they require the support of all health workers and those in associated unions, with guarantees of strike action.

In Bradford, key sectors in the health service will come out following an eviction, but nationwide solidarity against the cuts must be developed. A national conference would provide a focus for health workers to draw the necessary lessons from these struggles and coordinate an effective plan of action against cuts in the NHS.