NHS and health

As we reported in Solidarity 274, the leadership of the main health union Unison has voted to accept attacks to Agenda for Change, the agreement governing health workers pay and conditions. The reasoning appears to be that accepting cuts now may stave off worse cuts in the future, but statements from the Foundation Trust Network, an association for NHS bosses, suggest they seem intent on pushing ahead with plans to regionalise pay and conditions negotiation. There are some signs of resistance from the smaller health unions, however. The GMB has voted to oppose the attacks, and lobbied trade...

From this April, 80% of the NHS budget — around £70 billion — will be handed over to 211 GP-led Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs). CCGs replace Primary Care Trusts, once the local arm of the Department of Health. The CCGs’ budget will be spent in a competitive market subject to competition laws designed for commerce not public health. The private sector will cherry-pick the services where they can make the most profit. Hospitals will be left with the most difficult and most expensive cases; their finances will be destabilised. For many Trusts, laden with PFI debts, the financial crisis will...

A workplace bulletin for workers at Lewisham Hospital. Click here to download the PDF.

On 6 February, health union Unison’s Service Group Executive agreed to accept a number of attacks to Agenda for Change (AfC, the national terms and conditions for NHS staff) in a gambit straight out of the concession bargaining school of trade unionism.

Robert Francis’ report into the neglect and abuses at Mid Staffordshire Foundation Trust is 2,000 pages of horror stories about a hospital trust that was celebrated by NHS bosses and that went unnoticed by a “plethora” of regulators. The abuses included: patients being left in excrement in soiled bedclothes for lengthy periods; water left out of reach so patients was forced to drink out of flower vases; patients denied help with eating and left to go hungry. The Trust had an abnormally high death rate and many patients were denied their basic human dignity even in death. The report concludes...

A workplace bulletin for workers at Lewisham Hospital, discussing how workers can resist closure. Click here to download the PDF.

Tim Thomas previews Ken Loach’s new documentary, The Spirit of ’45. Ken Loach’s documentary, to be released in March, is probably not going to be seen at your local cinema. You are more likely to be offered Sylvester Stallone in Bullet to the Head (two stars and totally worthless). Spirit of ’45 should be shown in every cinema in the land but it won’t be; you can maybe catch it on Film Four. You might guess the reason why! The production team (Sixteen Films) are letting groups book it for public film showings. Getting this film shown depends on you. It is a film about the General Election of...

When he was just an opposition MP and looking for votes, Jeremy Hunt, with David Cameron’s support, campaigned to save his local A&E (the Royal Surrey Hospital) from closure. That was then. As Health Minister he is closing down hospitals, cutting jobs, selling off and giving away services, and generally “reconfiguring” the Health Service to his heart’s content. On 31 January, only five days after 25,000 people marched to defend Lewisham Hospital, Hunt announced plans to downgrade state of the art A&E and maternity units, to slash elderly care and acclaimed children’s services, to sell off or...

When a service is threatened with closure, our tactics must aim to keep the service open and running. Strike action just won’t work. The thing that workers can do is keep working! But isn’t the main focus the community campaign? The campaign has demonstrated how important Lewisham is to local people. The thousands on the streets to defend it has boosted the morale of the staff, and got attention in the media. But it hasn’t changed Hunt’s mind. When it comes down to it no amount of demonstrations are going to force the government to back down. This is why we have to force the government to...

More than 70 people attended a meeting at Camden Town Hall to discuss halting cuts at Whittington Hospital in Islington. Whittington Health Trust Board wants to close in-patient wards and reduce bed numbers for the elderly and new parents, close and sell off all staff accommodation, and cap births at the hospital at 4,000 a year. 570 workers face redundancy and, in total, a third of the hospital site is being put up for sale. At the meeting Shirley Franklin, chair of Defend Whittington Coalition, said involving workers from the hospital was “absolutely essential”, but also an uphill struggle...