Skip Navigation | HOME | UK Indymedia | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

West Country Features | UK Features | West Country Newswire | UK Newswire |

campaign hots up to defend malmesbury Hospital

Andy Newman | 13.02.2004 14:14 | Health | Oxford

Malmesbury Maternity Unit is threatened with closure by Kennet & North Wiltshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) along with the Devizes Maternity Unit despite big campaigns to defend these units in each town.
A petition of 10000 was presented to the PCT last year. Campaigners have asked for it back as they now wish to present it to Parliamant, but the PCT refuses to return it wotout explanation (probably becasue they just binned it - showing their real concern for local feeling)

All the services currently provided by the award-winning midwives in Malmesbury would be transferred to Chippenham. There is a consultation process lasting until 26th April 04 during which we can make our views clear to the PCT. The closure can be stopped!

What you can do to help:
Ø Join us for petitioning on Saturday 21st Feb at 11 am in the Market Cross, Malmesbury.
Ø Join us when we present the petition to MPs in Westminster on Monday 29th March (free bus).
Ø Come to our public meeting: Thursday 26th Feb, 7.30pm, Town Hall (Council Chamber),Malmesbury
Ø Come to the consultation meeting organised by Kennett & North Wilts PCT: Monday 1 March 2004, 10am to 12pm at Malmesbury Town Hall, Hobbs Room (Limited crèche facilities will be available - please telephone Leanne Woolway on 01380 736012 to secure a place), (There are other consultation meetings at Devizes, Marlborough, Pewsy and Calne, you can get details from me or www.kennetandnwiltspct.nhs.uk.)
Ø To get in touch with us, ring Sarah Newman on 01793 520903


You can also contact the PCT by writing to:
Jenny Edwards, Kennet and North Wiltshire Primary Care Trust, Southgate House, Pans Lane, Devizes, Wiltshire, SN10 5EQ.
Or email:  your.say@kennetandnwilts-pct.nhs.uk Fax: (01380) 733729 or telephone (01380) 736012 (answer phone only)

The PCT argue that there are not enough births at Malmesbury to make it cost effective, but the Birth-Rate could easily be Increased at Malmesbury Maternity Unit.
Removing the threat of closure is likely to increase the numbers. This would increase staff morale and patient confidence that the unit will still be open when they need it! Advertising the unit properly outside Malmesbury would also increase the birth rate.
Women outside Malmesbury are not told about the maternity unit. In spite of this, 1 in 5 of the births at Malmesbury are Swindon women who mostly heard about it from friends! This number could certainly be increased if the unit were properly promoted.

§ What are the advantages of a midwife-led maternity unit?
Women are more likely to have a normal birth with this type of one-to-one care and labour is likely to be shorter. Also, because post-natal care can be more personal and flexible, women are much more likely to breast-feed afterwards.
We believe that women should be able to choose this type of care if they want it.

When the Kennet & North Wiltshire PCT was set up 2 years ago, it started off with £11million debt! It claims that closing Malmesbury Hospital and Devizes Maternity Unit will save it £250 000. But it is not clear that this terrible proposal will even save any money.

Andy Newman

Download this article in pdf format >>

Email this article to someone >>

Submit an addition or make a quick comment on this article >>

Comments

Hide the following comment

Carry on Campaigning

15.02.2004 22:23

Sounds like your maternity ward is the victim of some "rationalisation" and, worse, New-Labour-style "modernisation"! It says a lot for our democracy that a 10,000 signature can just be ignored, and not even returned. Anyway, thanks for communicating this to indymedia, because otherwise I wouldn't have known about it. I've sent an e-mail to the Kenet and Wiltshire Primary Care Trust, and would encourage every reader of this web-page to do the same.

Keep us informed of any developments and how we can help.

Richard


Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal

West Country Topics

Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
Indymedia
Migration
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

West Country Actions 2007

West Country Actions 2006

April 2006 No Borders Days of Action
Art and Activism Caravan 2006
Climate Camp 2006
French CPE uprising 2006
G8 Russia 2006
Lebanon War 2006
March 18 Anti War Protest
Mayday 2006
Oaxaca Uprising
Refugee Week 2006
Rossport Solidarity
Transnational Day of Action Against Migration Controls
WSF 2006

West Country Actions 2005

DSEi 2005
G8 2005
WTO Hong Kong 2005

West Country Actions 2004

European Social Forum
FBI Server Seizure
May Day 2004
Venezuela

West Country Actions 2003

Bush 2003
DSEi 2003
Evian G8
May Day 2003
No War F15
Saloniki Prisoner Support
Thessaloniki EU
WSIS 2003

Languages

english

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech