We are campaigning about the discrimination in the provision of health services within Ilford South in the London Borough of Redbridge. This is in comparison to other areas of Redbridge and to our neighbouring London Boroughs.

Ilford South is, by far, the most deprived part of Redbridge, the most ethnically diverse and with the youngest population.  The non-allocation of resources at many different levels is causing a ‘multiple whammy’ leading to the standard of health care falling well below what is experienced within the other localities of Redbridge and in our neighbouring boroughs of London.

We need your support to raise this money urgently, so please contribute whatever you can and share this page with your family and friends.

With the constant construction of additional housing units in the Ilford South area and the subsequent further increase in our population, things are going from bad to worse.  The huge need for health infrastructure to go along with the increased population is simply not being given the attention it deserves.  Instead, perversely, services are being taken away.  Amongst other things:

• King George Hospital is on course to close its universal Accident & Emergency department and A&E services are to remain only for the frail elderly.  There has been and there will continue to be, the closure of many of the hospital's services and it will become, predominantly, a site for elderly care.  It is also a site designated for the development of 500 units of housing and a secondary school.

• Loxford Polyclinic, the only polyclinic in the area, has been run down and the walk-in system of obtaining GP appointments has been closed.

• GP:patient ratios in Ilford South are already amongst the very worst in the whole country and are set to worsen as many GP surgeries in the area are not being resourced adequately.  Many staff who cannot cope with the pressure are leaving and are not being replaced.  Recent reports in the media have confirmed the wide disparity across the country in terms of the GP:patient ratio.

Poor health provision is leading to a marked decline in the health outcomes for people living in the area.  Many people are finding it hugely difficult to get a GP appointment within a reasonable time, with no ability to book online; there is a lack of adequate out of hours services; delays in dental appointments; lack of blood testing facilities; long waiting times at A&E; poor referral to secondary services etc.

Although our neighbouring borough of Barking and Dagenham has the shortest life expectancy in London, where the average is 77.5 years for men and 81.8 years for women, the life expectancy of a man in Loxford ward of Ilford South is 76 and 82 for women.  Barkingside ward in Redbridge, on the other hand, has a life expectancy of 82 for men and 88 for women. 

This situation cannot be allowed to continue.

(see the East London Health Care Partnership Stategic Estates Plan for the future plans which remove services from Redbridge and allocate resources elsewhere, pages 39, 75, 85, 88, 93-96)

http://eastlondonhcp.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/18_10_NEL-ELHCP-Strategic-Estates-plan.pdf

The case  

There are several legal issues that the lawyers would be looking at.  One of these is The Equality Act 2010, section 149, which enshrines the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) which states that: public bodies must have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination.  This PSED means that the NHS has a wider social duty to promote equality through the services it provides and to reduce health inequalities.  In the case of Ilford South, this PSED is not being taken seriously and inequalities are being increased instead of being reduced.

What we are asking for

We are raising money in order to ask for a legal opinion on whether we can take Redbridge Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Redbridge Council to court.  They have, up till now only payed lip service to our concerns about their PSED.    

We need your support to raise this money urgently, so please contribute whatever you can and share this page with your family and friends, particularly if they are also affected by this issue.

What we are trying to achieve 

This will be a legal challenge questioning the way health resources are allocated at a strategic level in the Borough.  Redbridge has for many years received much less funding per head of population from the NHS than our neighbouring boroughs of Barking & Dagenham and Havering.  If the NHS believes that Redbridge doesn’t need as much funding as the other boroughs, why is the health provision in Ilford South so poor?  Conversely, if Redbridge needs more funding, why are the Redbridge authorities not demanding it?

If we are successful, Redbridge Council and Redbridge CCG would have to reconsider their funding plans in order to deal with the inequalities that exist.  This case could be very important for other deprived areas in the country, which may be being discriminated against in the same way.

How much we are raising and why?  

We are raising an initial target of £2,000 to start the ball rolling on obtaining a legal opinion, with a later stretch target of £5,000.  The legal firm Bindmans are leaders in the field of equality legislation and have said they could potentially commence work fairly soon after this crowd-funding page has been launched and some of the money has been raised.  They may also be able to convince a barrister to do the same. 

If Bindmans find we have a legal case to pursue, we would then look to obtaining Legal Aid for this, as there are many people that are being adversely affected by these health allocation decisions, who would be eligible for Legal Aid.