Home - SR Editions - Socialist Resistance No.47

Brown’s new health secretary signs death warrants for key Manchester hospital services

FIGHT BACK against hospital cutbacks!

Sunday Sept 23

MARCH with a message for Labour, Unite demonstration at Labour Conference , 1pm BOURNEMOUTH

  • an end to off-shoring - quality, secure jobs for all
  • to ensure equal rights for agency workers - and trade union- freedom for all
  • to close the yawning wealth gap
  • to deliver fair pay to public sector workers and quality, publicly provided health and education for all
  • to free councils to build decent housing for all

Saturday November 3

Central London - National demonstration in central London to celebrate and defend the NHS.

Further details from www.unison.org.uk//healthcare/keepNHSworking

Health Secretary Alan Johnson took office a few weeks ago promising to lis

ten to health workers and to local people: but by mid August he has shown that the NHS is already back to business as usual, banging through Patricia Hewitt’s agenda of unpopular hospital closures.

In August Johnson rubber-stamped the closure of maternity units at four hospitals - Fairfield in Bury, Rochdale Infirmary, Trafford and Salford Hope along with Salford ’s neonatal intensive care unit. Each unit has been strongly defended, with local campaigns and petitions mobilising thousands - but for ministers this is clearly the ‘wrong type’ of patient choice.

Thousands of women will now face longer journeys to have their babies - and tens of thousands of local campaigners up and down the country will fear that their hospitals will be next on Johnson’s closure list as phony consultation procedures are forced through.

Campaigns, including those in Cumbria , Sussex , Hertfordshire and parts of London , will need to step up the pressure if this is to be avoided.

The Lobby of Labour conference on September 23 and the National Demonstration called for November 3 by UNISON to ‘celebrate’ and defend the NHS should also offer a focus to reinforce the fight to defend local access to quality health care.