Cuts campaign: Keep Our NHS Public!

Lead Officer: Martin Booth

ETUC 'Day of Action' on 29th September and Comprehensive Spending Review on 20th October

August 2010

Partial Reprieve for Brookfields

July 2008

CAMBRIDGESHIRE Primary Care Trust has decided to keep part of Brookfields Hospital in Cambridge open, after earlier threatening to close it.

At an open meeting in June, the PCT decided to keep twelve beds open at Brookfields for rehabilitation, and keep another twelve for optional use. The PCT will plough extra resources into community-based care, although campaigners have expressed strong concern about the standard of care being provided in the community, especially by private organisations.

At the meeting Martin Booth, Cambridge Heath UNISON branch chair, also called for more information about plans to put two wards at the hospital out to tender for providing a neuro rehabilitation service. He warned that if a private company took over these wards that this would be a ‘foot in the door’ for big private healthcare companies to come into the local NHS.

Generally campaigners feel that the situation at Brookfields is a step forwards from where we were six months ago, but there is still a major campaign to be waged, especially regarding standards of long-term care for elderly people. UNISON will continue to play a leading role in this campaign.

Brookfields still under threat: But members march on...

April 2008

ONE hundred demonstrators marched down Mill Road in Cambridge on April 5th to demand that NHS beds at Brookfields Hospital be kept open for rehabilitation and continuing care.

The demonstration was organised by Keep Our NHS Public, with the full backing of Cambridge Health UNISON, Cambridge and District Trade Union Council and Cambridge Older People’s Enterprise (COPE). Delegations from teachers and postal workers’ unions also joined the march.

It was called because Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust is planning to close wards at the hospital’s Davison House and hand them over to a charity, Sue Ryder, to run a neuro-rehabilitation service. The supporters of the demonstration fear that this will lead to a lack of provision of rehabilitation and continuing care, especially for elderly people, despite assurances from the PCT that such people will be able to get this care in their own homes, or in private care facilities.

Martin Booth, chair of Cambridge KONP and Cambridge Health UNISON, pointed out that the PCT’s ‘Sue Ryder’ option was being chosen because it involved the least expenditure, and warned ‘Sue Ryder today means United Healthcare, Humana and the rest of the profit-seeking private health sector tomorrow.’ He urged everyone to sign up to KONP and build up future activities, including a planned screening of Michael Moore’s ‘Sicko’ and an event around the time of the NHS 60th anniversary in July 2008.

CAMBRIDGE Health UNISON has a proud record of fighting to defend the NHS in the face of threats from cuts and privatisation. It is affiliated to Keep Our NHS Public and fully supports the NHS Together alliance of unions and campaigning organisations.

This has been particularly important in the last two years or so, since the government imposed new financial rules demanding that NHS organisations break even. The first part of the branch to be affected by this was Mental Health, which faced some £4 million cuts in 2005-6.

Campaign to Defend the NHS goes National (November 2007)

The highlight of the NHS Together campaign to defend the NHS against cuts and privatisation was reached on November 3rd, at a national march and rally in London.

A coachload from Cambridge joined the event, attended by officially seven thousand people but with almost certainly at least twice that taking part in the march itself. Noisy demonstrators shouted 'NHS Not For Sale!', 'No Ifs, No Buts, No NHS Cuts!' and ''They Say Warfare, We Say Welfare' - the last slogan shouted particularly loud when passing the Houses of Parliament.

There was a host of speakers and performers at the rally in Trafalgar Square, but many of those taking part felt that there should have been more emphasis on fighting to defend the NHS rather than 'celebrating' it.

The fighting theme was certainly dominant at two important local events in October; the first was a regional conference of NHS together which brought together campaigners from across the region to build joint support for services under threat. It was addressed by prominent regional unions spokespeople, and there was a particularly entertaining speech by broadcaster and GP Phil Hammon, who got the audience thinking about what sort of NHS we want. The conference was then followed by a lively march into Cambridge city centre.

Three weeks later on October 27th, Cambridge Health UNISON members took part in a protest picket at Brookfields Hospital in Cambridge, where rehabilitation beds for the elderly are under threat. Staff at the hospital were joined by campaigners from Cambridge Older People's Enterprise (COPE), users of the service and Cambridge City MP David Howarth. A consultation about the future of Brookfields is currently under way.

Campaign Beginnings (March 2007)

The branch led the way in organising lobbies of the Trust board, demonstrations in the city centre, and a petition to the government which collected thousands of signatures. Partly as a result of our campaigning, some of the worst aspects of the cuts were reduced, and no compulsory redundancies were imposed.

However, the branch has also taken up the fight against cuts resulting from the huge financial problems of Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust. This has included supporting members directly employed by the PCT who have been hit by job cuts, and campaigning in support of our colleagues in Hinchingbrooke Hospital, which faced first the threat of closure and then serious cutbacks as a result of the PCT funding crisis.

Cambridge Health UNISON Branch members lobbied parliament on a least two occasions in support of NHS Together, and led the way in organising the successful Regional Conference and March in Cambridge on March 3rd this year, as part of NHS Together's national Day of Action.

This is now being followed by the recalled Regional Conference on October 6th and the long-awaited national demonstration on November 3rd. Make sure you are there! (for details, see Events page).

Article added 2010-08-26 05:14:12