Save jobs and beds at the Royal Free

MANAGEMENT IS proposing to slash 480 jobs and 100 beds at the Royal Free hospital in north-west London. The Socialist Party is organising a campaign to oppose all redundancies and pay cuts.

John Reid

Four wards are threatened with closure, including the award-winning stroke unit on Berry Ward. It is likely that a further 70 beds will be lost later in the year. Management is also urging staff to take a pay cut to help clear the £25 million 'debt'!

We demand that the £25 million pound 'debt' of the Royal Free and the £182 million debt within the NHS in London be written off by the government. Otherwise there will be a meltdown of health care in London.

The Royal Free played a key role in treating victims of the 7/7 bombings, we cannot afford a rundown in services at this hospital.

The government can find hundred of millions of pounds for warfare but cannot provide a decent health service. We demand that the NHS is totally publicly funded and that private finance is driven out of our health service. The health service should be democratically run by health workers, patient groups and the local community.