100% rise for health bosses

WHILE NHS workers are offered a miserly 2.5% pay award for the next year, bosses at Blackpool, Fylde and Wyre NHS Foundation Trust awarded themselves rises of over 100%! The Trust Chair saw her pay jump from £22,524 to £45,000, while a non-executive director, currently on £5,875, will get £13,000.

Ian Howie

This all stems from New Labour's establishment of foundation trusts, which have removed democratic accountability and given management the freedom to spend taxpayers' money any way they wish.

Incredibly Gordon Marsden, Labour MP for Blackpool South, claims he is "extremely surprised and concerned" by the trust managers' greed and thinks it "raises questions about the new foundation trust's openness and transparency". However, given that Marsden voted for the establishment of foundation trusts, his 'crocodile tears' reaction is a little hard to believe.

New Labour's programme of cuts and privatisation in the NHS has been a disaster both in Blackpool and nationwide.

An organised plan of action against the cuts by the NHS unions is urgently needed!