Updated: Lambeth/Southwark breastfeeding cafes - Service to be shut

[naatm]

Keep sharing the petition! Hopefully Change.org can sort their server issues out! I have just seen that there is now a meeting next Tuesday morning 9.30 - 11.30) at Punk Me Up cafe to discuss the closure. It's being organised by the King's Maternity Services Liaison Committee. Info on the King's MSLC Facebook page.

[Melihoople]

We have got 500 signatures so far. Please keep signing and sharing!

[simonethebeaver]

Could anyone who lives not in Helen Hayes' constituency but the neighbouring ones who would be prepared to get involved in campaigning against these closure please PM me?

[simonethebeaver]

The petition now has over 800 supporters!

[simonethebeaver]

And now 1000. The comments are really heartfelt - so many women have benefited from this free, accessible service.

[simonethebeaver]

Two things:

The lay members of the Maternity Services Liaison Committee, who weren't consulted about this, are meeting this Tuesday at 9.30am at Punk Me Up Cafe on East Dulwich Road to discuss the matter and possible alternatives. It turns out that Kings have been subsidising Southwark and Lambeth funding for the midwives and are no longer willing to continue. So pressure needs to be put on the local authorities and Kings to between them find a way to keep the services running.

Please make your concerns known to http://www.healthwatchsouthwark.co.uk @hwsouthwark

[LondonMix]

I've signed the petition-- thanks for organising!

[Melihoople]

The story from kings keeps changing though... Make it up as they go along??

It is so important.

[Mantlebees]

This news has really saddened me, I have benefitted so much from this amazing free service, as I'm sure have countless others. Well done, ladies, for taking a stand. I have signed the petition and have been encouraging local friends to do the same via Facebook and word of mouth.

[PengeMum]

I am not able to attend the meeting on Tuesday, as it is my daughter's first birthday and we are having a party. Would someone be able to feedback on here what the key points of the meeting were? I am very keen to keep up-to-date with the latest developments. I have signed the petition.

Many thanks.

[Melihoople]

Yes we will be going on tuesday and will feedback here.

There is a facebook group - 'Save Kings College Community Breastfeeding Clinics'

Also on facebook is the page of Kings MSLC (maternity services liason committee) lay members not affiliated with the trust who arevholding the meeting on tuesday.

The petition has over 1600 signatures. It also has many heartfelt comments - we would like Kings to acknowlege these. We would also like to organise a demonstration to show Kings how much support this service has!!

Please keep signing, sharing and tweeting https://www.change.org/p/kings-college-nhs-trust-save-kings-community-breastfeeding-clinics

It is national breastfeeding awareness week - not that Kings would appear to care!

[buggie]

Anyone else seen this on the Lambeth Milkspots FB page?

[scareyt]

That's weird Buggie. What is their FB page called? I couldn't find it.

So if I'm understanding that email correctly, the LAs have been paying just over ?200k a year to Kings for them to provide 4 midwives to run the service, but it was costing Kings more than that to provide them because they have to back-fill those 4 positions using agency staff? And they want to end the secondment arrangement so that 4 permanent roles will be created instead? If that's true it sounds kind of sensible and sounds like we need to be pressuring Lambeth and Southwark instead/as well as Kings? And surely 200k is enough money to pay 4 midwives salaries? I wonder why it got to that point though, why they couldn't have just agreed between Kings & the LAs to create and advertise the permanent roles. Or have I totally missed the point? Sorry for all the questions!

[buggie]

It's lambethmilkspots (all one word) on FB. Am guessing there'll be clearer

explanation tomorrow.

It's a worrying precedent given that from Oct all HV/sch nursing services are

going to be commissioned by LA & yet this suggests they've been trying to cut corners already.

Maybe we should get our local councillors involved?

[Mustard]

Do other local authorities have breastfeeding clinics?

[buggie]

There are definitely Milk Spots in Lewisham & Greenwich.

Think it's standard across the country to offer this sort of

community support to mums needing help to breast feed.

What the individual funding/use of MW's v's volunteer/peer support/availability of service, I don't know,

but am aware it varies.

[parsnip]

Some links and comments here on what happened in Lewisham in case people haven't seen:

http://brockleycentral.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/lewishams-baby-cafes-at-risk-from.html

https://www.change.org/p/sir-steve-bullock-mayor-of-lewisham-save-lewisham-s-baby-cafes

[simonethebeaver]

I think Lambeth and Southwark provide a better service than many other parts of the country. The easy access we have to the expert midwives and lactation consultants is different to other places who may only have peer supporters or fewer experts. They should be proud of this model - and they have won awards for it very recently.

Staff costs are always in excess of salary. I know when I went on secondment at work I boggled a bit at my 'value'. But it's quite right to say we need the local authorities and Kings to work together here to find a solution - Kings are more or less admitting that they are making this move to force Lambeth and Southwark's hands on funding. I don't think anyone believes the LAs will set up replacement roles.

The opposition so far has been significant and I hope tomorrow we can discuss ways to make it as strategic and constructive as possible. The breastfeeding women of Lambeth and Southwark, and their supporters, are a formidable lot and we need to make best use of the knowledge and skills we have. Please do come along if you can contribute any personal or professional help!

[Melihoople]

It's terrible that Kings seem yo be playing funding politics with new mums and babies.

[simonethebeaver]

As promised, a read out of the meeting. There remains general shock that Kings have made such a huge move without any consultation, seemingly at extremely short notice. It seems that Kings management have been rather shocked by the extent of the outrage already expressed.

We discussed the best ways to campaign. We are asking everyone to contact their councillors and MP to express their feelings about this move, and to ask them to encourage Lambeth and Southwark councils to work with Kings to find a way to keep the service as it currently is. It does not seem that any thinking has been done on how this might be done within what are undoubtedly funding constraints.

The group was able to think of several ways the closure of the cafes will end up costing the NHS money in the future, without of course taking into account the impact on local families and the public health implications. Again, this is a point that needs to be made loudly and clearly. We will be contacting the Clinical Commissioners at Lambeth and Southwark, and all the Chief Executives involved. Again, we encourage anyone interested to do the same.

We have already made contact with local MPs and Helen Hayes has offered her support. We have spoken to Alison Thewliss MP, who has a parliamentary debate on breastfeeding tomorrow, and she has supported the petition on Twitter. We have also been retweeted by several national organisations.

We are talking to several national organisations who may be able to offer support. Our campaign has been covered aleady by BBC London radio, and the South London Press and Londonist will be running stories. We have some interest from national media.

We'd like to ask any bloggers out there to cover the story and share. Please retweet our petition - twitter handle is @CommKch.

We are developing other plans as well as preparing model letters, petitions for MPs and press briefings. They will all be available via our FB group Save Kings College Community Breastfeeding Clinics. The group is closed to prevent newsfeed spamming but just ask to join - we're open to all.

If you'd like to suggest anything else, either here or on FB, we'd love to hear from you.

We hope another MSLC meeting will be held soon, this time with clinical representatives from Kings.

We have three months till these clinics are due to close. Let's make some noise.

[Zedd]

Thanks for this summary. Sounds like a positive meeting given the less than positive news. I'm on holiday until next Friday but as soon as I'm back I'm keen to get involved with the campaign. Thanks again.

[Renata Hamvas]

Hello all, I emailed Cabinet Member Barrie Hargrove about this yesterday.

I think this is an important service.

Renata

[louiseneilan]

Thank you to everyone who has posted about this important subject. As you have gathered, the news from Kings of their plans to withdraw their midwives from the breastfeeding clinics came as a shock to the council as well as to users of the service. We value this service, as we know many of you do too, and we regret Kings? decision to cease their provision. We are now looking at options to ensure that this important service continues across the borough with a minimum of disruption. I will keep you all posted.

Cllr Barrie Hargrove

Cabinet Member for Public Health, Parks and Leisure

[simonethebeaver]

Thank you, Barrie. That sounds positive.

The Standard is covering this story today, which is fantastic. Any local parents who support the campaign and are free at midday today are welcome to be part of a photo call at Rosendale Children's Centre.

Alison Thewliss MP will be mentioning us in her debate on breastfeeding this afternoon at 4.30pm. You can watch online. It's in Westminster Hall.

[Renata Hamvas]

Thanks Barrie,

Renata