We win!

 

There we were back on the 17^th July, mobilised in Egham to demonstrate our opposition to Ashford and St. Peter’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust’s decision to charge disabled badge holders for parking.

iDoh!

This is penalising those who are least able to pay.

After an impressive display of united opposition, the trust agreed to reconsider and some of us turned up today at St. Peter’s to hear what they had to say at the next board meeting.

Here’s some of the opposition;

 

That’s Mick Flannigan on the left, John Greives seated and Caroline Williams on the right.

bTake a bow Caroline Williams, who organised an online petition and gathered over 600 signatures in a very short time.

Most importantly, that produced enough publicity to get the rest of us involved and to mobilise a roomful of courageous disability activists on a sweltering hot Thursday afternoon.

The Board caved in before we were allowed in – right back to where we started; no charges for disabled people visiting the hospitals.

I was surprised and pleased; it just goes to show that public protest can work wonders, especially where the amount of money involved is relatively small and the potential for bad publicity is high.

I stayed on for the rest of the meeting and the questions but as I’ve been having a rough time recently and there’ve been a few too many serious Blogs recently, I think I’ll report on that a bit later and combine it with a profile of the new Chief Executive.

Well done Caroline Williams!

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

#help me sort out St. Peters!

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com