Battling mums who refused to concede
CAMPAIGNERS who fought to save emergency maternity services at the DGH have spoken of their two-and-a-half year struggle which led to last week's decision in their favour.
Liz Walke and Monica Corrina-Kavakli were at the forefront of Save the DGH, a campaign which attracted more than 115,000 in contributions from a community determined to stop consultant-led maternity care being moved to Hastings.
They were delighted with the result they got - a ruling that East Sussex Downs and Weald and Hastings and Rother Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) must have a consultant-led unit in each town.
Liz Walke, the campaign's chair, said, "We expected to fight to the bitter end, which we thought could be years away."
The self-employed accountant was amazed by the work the campaign took. She said, "Life has been on hold, everything has been on hold because everything was so urgent with the campaign."
The first thing she planned on hearing the result was to go out for lunch with friends, something she has been unable to do since 2006.
Her work began in March that year, when she attended an East Sussex Downs and Weald PCT meeting to discuss what would happen to services provided by the now-defunct All Saints Hospital in Meads, whose closure she fought unsuccessfully.
She said, "During the All Saints campaign I remember realising that there was no much you could do about it, you could raise awareness but it was going to go ahead."
Then the proposal to downgrade maternity services was announced and she was horrified. At the end of the meeting, she approached Eastbourne MP Nigel Waterson and they agreed to do their best to stop it.
And she took the agreement seriously, this year putting her house and life savings on the line to underwrite a judicial review of the PCT decision. She said, "I had to disclose ,y financial position and that was one of the most upsetting points because the PCT had this information and knew more about my finances than my family did. It all had to be laid bare."
She stood to lose 100,000 if the case was lost.
The victory, she said, proved, "Even if you think you might not win, it is worth fighting, because you could."
Joining Liz in the battle was Monica Corrina-Kavakli, a full-time mum and campaign secretary, often with young children Samuel and Jessie by her side. She said, "At the end of the day, it was them and their big sister Ella, who we lost at birth just over six years ago, that inspired me in the first place and gave me the will and determination to fight for our hospital."
She too found the work a mammoth and often frustrating task but a momentous one in which she learnt a huge amount. The Save the DGH march in September, 2006, where thousands of supporters turned up,was the highest point for her.
"That was a day that made my heart flutter, a day that you don't need to put in your diary because you will never forget it. The lowest point would have to be last December when the PCT announced the downgrading of the Eastbourne unit had been finally decided."
She added, "I am proud to have been part of this campaign and meeting and working with Liz who is equally as passionate and determined as I am, has been an honour."
But it is not quite over yet. The campaign group is still waiting anxiously for the new maternity services plan the PCT has been told it must produce within three weeks.
Any money left from the campaign funds is eventually likely to go to the Friends of the Eastbourne Hospitals, subject to a Save the DGH campaign vote.
Liz Walke will next week be nominated by Conservative Eastbourne borough councillor Sandie Howlett for the Freedom of the Borough. Her name would join an exclusive list including Martina Navratilova and Sir Winston Churchill.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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