Romsey says: "Save Our Birthing Centre"

AROUND FIFTY mothers, children and campaigners demonstrated in Romsey
on 22 July against Southampton University Hospital’s Trust plans to
close their local NHS birthing centre, along with birthing units in
Hythe and Lymington.

Toby Harris

The Trust plans to replace them with a new unit for the entire
South-west. The socialist spoke to Barbara Wyant, an antenatal teacher
and one of the campaign organisers, who explained the problems created
by the closures:

"Women in labour can’t travel long distances – putting them at risk
without local birthing centres. The relationships women build up with
local midwives will be lost. Romsey also provides 24-hour post-natal
recuperation support, which will be lost if it is closed."

She pointed to the hypocrisy of a government whose National Service
Framework emphasises community care and choice but whose under-funding
leads to the closure of local services.

The Trust claims that the Romsey unit is underused, but campaigners
pointed out that little money goes into promoting out-of-hospital care,
with GPs often sending mothers straight to the Princess Anne Hospital’s
maternity unit in Southampton. This unit already accommodates 1,000
women a year and will be put under more strain by the closures.

BRYONY DOUGLAS, another organiser, had little doubt that: "It’s
purely for financial reasons". She’s right. Facing a projected £26
million deficit by the end of the financial year, the Trust is cutting
564 jobs across Southampton with 100 forced redundancies.

Socialist Party members spoke to demonstrators and handed out
leaflets putting forward our call for a national demonstration and
industrial action, advertising the meeting in Birmingham on Saturday.

We will be working with this and other campaigns to build a united
front against attacks across Southampton and Hampshire on the NHS,
education and council services.


Derby

A SUCCESSFUL lobby called by local Socialist Party members handed a
1,000+ signature petition into Derby NHS Trust committing the Trust and
City Council to keeping McKeith nursery open. Even though the local
paper exaggerated the threat, the victory was greeted with satisfaction
by the lobby.

The petitioning raised an avalanche of issues. Derbyshire Royal
Infirmary/ Nottingham University hospitals have 60 newly-qualifying, but
unplaced, nurses. Senior nurses complained of running a skeleton staff –
any worse over the summer and it would endanger patients. Nurses angrily
expressed worries about a day when five wards began the day shift at a
local hospital without intravenous antibiotics.

Graham Lewis

Ormskirk

NHS WORKERS in the market town of Ormskirk, Lancashire, protested
against cuts and redundancies outside the town’s hospital on 21 July.
The protest was a lively affair. At lunchtime hundreds of students from
the nearby high school shouted "Beep" as they went past, in an attempt
to vie with the horns of passing cars!

Over 80 redundancies are threatened, and the UNISON branch at the
hospital will consider strike action if the protest does not result in a
change of position from NHS bosses.