Defend the NHS - Stop cuts at Dewsbury hospital

Build for a 24-hour general strike

A healthworker

"We will fight, tooth and nail, to save our hospital services," is the message the people of North Kirklees will be sending the bosses of the Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust on 27 October.

The Trust claims it wants to remove full consultant-led A&E and maternity services from Dewsbury hospital for 'clinical reasons' to improve patient care.

This just doesn't wash. We know there is a huge financial deficit and management is under pressure to balance the books in order to achieve the foundation trust status demanded by the government's new Health and Social Care Act.

Meanwhile the consortium responsible for the Private Finance Initiative contract in the Trust is taking in the region of £40 million a year and keeping its profits in a tax haven, a Guernsey account.

Business consultants Ernst and Young have been paid £2.5 million since December by the Trust, to advise on the cutting of admin staff's wages to save money. It doesn't take a mathematician to work out that something doesn't add up!

The Save Local Hospital Services campaign is calling on the Trust to spend this money to maintain full services as they are.

We have held a series of public meetings attended by hundreds of people across the area. The public response at these and the petitions signed by thousands give a taste of the anger people feel - our health services are being jeopardised for the sake of profits for a private consortium.

We expect a determined crowd to join our demonstration this Saturday. We will be joined by staff from the trust, who have just voted by 88% to take strike action in defence of their wages and conditions.

The campaign has united staff, service users and communities across North Kirklees in a common goal... To save our NHS.

The demonstration starts on 27 October, 12 noon at Dewsbury Hospital car park and will march to a rally outside Dewsbury town hall at 12.45pm.

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In The Socialist 24 October 2012: