10,000 sign up for the Sick Kids

MORE than 10,000 people have signed up to the Evening News' fight to keep vital services at the Sick Kids hospital. The number signing the petition, started by former brain tumour patient Ross Newlands, 16, is rising every day.

Campaigners say the Hands off the Sick Kids message has struck a chord across the city, with everyone from football fans at Hearts and Hibs to shoppers on Princes Street queuing up to lend their support.

The future of top-level children's cancer and neurology services is being reviewed as part of a national assessment of paediatric services.

A previous draft version of the report has recommended centralising the highest level children's cancer care in one or two hospitals, with Glasgow expected to be among those named. Top neurology treatment in Edinburgh is similarly under threat.

Ross's mother, Gail Newlands, 42, of Ferniehill, who collected signatures in Princes Street, said: "We're so grateful and want to thank everyone so much. To get more than 10,000 signatures is amazing and people are still asking me for forms."

Consultants at the Sick Kids, who are prevented from talking openly by NHS protocol, are understood to be "livid" at the downgrade plans.

They fear cutting the top-end services in order to centralise them in Glasgow would make it increasingly difficult to attract leading medics to the Sick Kids.

Ministers have stressed that they will act in the best interests of patients, and today it was hoped they would listen to the growing opposition in the Capital.

Dr Richard Burtles, a former anaesthetist at the Sick Kids, collected signatures at Cameron Toll shopping centre.

He said: "I am delighted that this petition is happening, as the consequences of the hospital downgrading will mean an enormous amount of travelling for families to Glasgow, or wherever the new hospital might be. It is utterly ridiculous that this should be happening.

"Neurology, in particular, requires a great deal of outpatient visits, so any extra travelling for parents means a dreadful situation for children.

"Care for children who have conditions such as spina bifida means there is no end point of care. What happens is children and their families will spend a great deal of their time travelling to hospitals and not living their lives."

Silvana Politi campaigned against the closure of the cardiology unit at the Sick Kids in 1999, which also led to its downgrading, and another reason why leading medics are concerned.

Ms Politi, from Meadowbank, whose son Steven McGregor underwent a successful operation there to repair a hole in the heart, has also come out in support of neurology and cancer services.

"I still have 25 sheets with more than 500 signatures to hand in," she said. "I've gone round my neighbours and everyone I could think of asking them to sign.

"If this does not make them stand up and take notice then what would?"

Nicola Boyd collected over 21 sheets of signatures from her sister's shop, Westfield News, in Gorgie Road. Her other sister, who is now 14, had a low-level form of leukaemia and Nicola believes it is thanks to the Sick Kids that she is here today.

She added: "When I was asking people in the shop and on the street to sign the petition to stop the downgrading of the Sick Kids, I was really able to tell them what an outrage the proposals are.

"I got lots of signatures from football supporters – they were queuing up to sign the petition. It was amazing how many people didn't know about the plans."

Politicians and councillors of all persuasions have backed the campaign, with Labour MP for Livingston Jim Devine the latest to lend his support.

He said: "I have written to the Scottish Government's Health Minister on behalf of my constituents, to express my concern and to ask for her assurance that this lifeline for local families will not be shut.

"As well as writing to Ms Sturgeon, I have signed the Evening News' petition and encourage constituents to do the same."

Councillor Ewan Aitken, the city's Labour leader, who has been out collecting signatures, said: "There's a clear view from a huge cross-section of people in Edinburgh that downgrading the Sick Kids is both unacceptable and inappropriate. They said they would listen – let them listen."

Many of the people collecting signatures have personal experiences of the Sick Kids.

Lothians MSP George Foulkes said: "The fact that there are now over 10,000 signatures shows the strength of feeling surrounding plans to centralise services to Glasgow.

"It's great that the campaign is gathering momentum but there is still a long way to go. Worried parents have expressed just how valuable and necessary it is to have such a high-quality and specialised facility local to them, and that its loss would only mean more stress for families who are already under incredible pressure.

"I will fight for the children and families who depend on this facility remaining local, and urge anyone concerned about this issue to join the campaign and put pressure on the Scottish Government to honour its manifesto commitment."


'Leigh would live there if we let her'

IT was a simple fall that led to Leigh Gorman needing six years of complex neurological treatment at the Sick Kids.

Her mother Elaine soon noticed the three-year-old was squinting, and tests at the hospital revealed fluid on the brain. Mrs Gorman, from Redhall Drive, Longstone, said: "They've always been fantastic with her. If we had to deal with anyone else we really would not want to."

Leigh, who is now nine, has undergone years of operations to install tubes to drain away the fluid, and has had parts of her skull removed to ease pressure.

Her mother, who is lending her support to the Evening News Sick Kids campaign, said: "She's been good for about a year, but they are still watching her.

"The consultants and surgeons have always been fantastic. Despite everything she's gone through Leigh is great, just brilliant, and she loves it at the Sick Kids. She would live there if we let her."


HOW YOU CAN HELP
To find out what you can do to support the Hands off the Sick Kids campaign, click here, or call health reporter Gareth Rose on 0131 620 8753.

• www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk