Staff were asked to consider leaving their jobs at the Royal Free

A FIGHTBACK against a drive to axe staff and services at the Royal Free will be launched at a public meeting next week.

The financial crisis at the Hampstead hospital – featured on last week’s New Journal front page – will be the focus of a rally at the Archway Methodist Hall on Tuesday.

The meeting has been organised by campaigners at the Defend Whittington Hospital Coalition group that fought three successful battles against cuts to that hospital in Highgate. It was behind two historic marches in support of the NHS in 2010 and 2013.

Shirley Franklin, chair of DHWC, said: “We were shocked to read in the CNJ of the massive cuts at the Royal Free Hospital – the loss of 1,000 jobs. This is utterly unacceptable. We have a shortage of beds and staff, long waiting lists and corridor care. The last thing we need is this decimation of our NHS.

“We will support Royal Free staff and patients in setting up a fightback against the cuts at their hospital. I would like to invite all interested parties to our meeting.”

Last week, the New Journal revealed staff at the Royal Free have been invited to quit due to a desperate push to meet unreasonable financial targets set by the central government.

“Efficiencies” of more than £120million have got to be made by April – a deadline the hospital’s NHS trust says it is unlikely to be able to meet.

Frontline workers say the Royal Free is already at breaking point and needs more funding not less.

The hospital in Pond Street is being punished for failing to meet cancer treatment and A&E waiting time targets in recent years.

The missed targets have led to it being downgraded into a new financial category that affects its overall funding, putting its status as one of the capital’s general hospitals under threat.

The meeting – “Is the Government making a casualty of our NHS?” – is at the Archway Methodist Hall on November 25 from 7pm.