The Broadway is proud to put its weight behind the campaign to save the accident and emergency unit at the Whittington Hospital. It is the only geographically sensible location that still exists for the provision of these important and often life-saving s

The Broadway is proud to put its weight behind the campaign to save the accident and emergency unit at the Whittington Hospital. It is the only geographically sensible location that still exists for the provision of these important and often life-saving services as far as people in the west of Haringey are concerend.

Residents in the hospital's general catchment area, and many of the 80,000 patients from a wide area who avail of the Whittington's emergency service every year, are perplexed and baffled by the proposals, which appear to take little account of the needs of the community.

No matter what way you look at them, the proposals just don't seem to make sense from a healthcare point of view, and this has led many people to believe that something sinister is afoot. When the proposals were originally 'leaked' there was a widespread sense of disbelief that of the four options put forward by the head of the NHS's North London sector, not a single one provided for the retention of accident and emergency services at the Whittington.

And the fact that the Whittington's chief executive 'jumped ship' and joined the Royal Free not long before the proposals were revealed, adds to the general sense of unease as to what exactly is going on.

It is largely to the Royal Free that people in Crouch End and Muswell Hill would in future be sent for emergency care.

Yet days after we had raised concerns about the Royal Free's ability to cope with the anticipated added burden if the Whittington unit goes, the Hampstead hospital was forced to close its doors to many patients. That said a lot about the lack of strategic thinking behind the proposals.

It seems clear that the NHS never envisaged a situation in which they would have to try to sell their ridiculous proposals to the people of Haringey - but they should never forget that it is the people who pay for the NHS.

This is one clear case where the voice of the people must be heard, loudly and clearly, and we will pledge to keep these pages open for the airing of all viewpoints in this important matter. If the Whittington ever loses is accident and emergency resource, it is highly unlikely that those services would ever return. They will be gone forever.