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Siobhain's Campaigns 18/02/2002 Siobhain Calls for Wilson Hospital to Reopen Siobhain is leading a campaign to urge Health Ministers to reopen Mitcham's Wilson Hospital. Since December, thousands of Mitcham and Morden people have added their names to a petition she plans to present to Parliament. "The response has been overwhelming", says Siobhain. In an emotional debate in the House of Commons in January 2002, Siobhain told MPs: "It's no exaggeration to say that I speak for virtually all my 70,000 constituents - no matter what their politics - when I say that they would dearly love the Wilson to re-open its doors as a hospital. It's also no exaggeration to say that the people of Mitcham had, and still have, a strong and proud affection for the Wilson - it was, and is, cherished." Siobhain went on to tell Health Ministers: "The Wilson disappeared off the clinical radar in the closing years of the last Conservative Government, becoming offices for Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth health authority. A much-loved and much-used amenity was lost. Desks and filing cabinets replaced beds; offices replaced wards and an operating theatre. Mitcham was stripped of the hospital that Sir Isaac Wilson, a local benefactor, specifically endowed for the people of Mitcham in 1928. Sir Isaac endowed a cottage hospital for the many, not an office block for the few. The current misuse of the building is an affront to his intentions and to the people of Mitcham." The first objective of Siobhain's campaign is to urge Merton, Sutton and Wandsworth Health Authority, and the new south-west London strategic health authority, which is replacing it, to find alternative office accommodation to clear the way for hospital facilities at the Wilson. She says: "Sir Isaac Wilson never intended to endow an office block." Siobhain's campaign for the Wilson continues! If you would like to add your name to Siobhain's petition, or write a letter to the chair of the Health Authority, please call on 020 8542 4835. |
"Sir Isaac Wilson never intended to endow an office block." Siobhain McDonagh MP, 'Re-open Wilson' campaign, 18 February 2002 |
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| © 2001–2008 Siobhain McDonagh MP |