NHS privatisation cartoon, photo Alan Hardman

NHS privatisation cartoon, photo Alan Hardman   (Click to enlarge: opens in new window)

Sean McCauley, Worcestershire Socialist Party

Worcestershire has been hit time and time again with cuts to its NHS. It’s been 16 years since New Labour closed Kidderminster’s A&E, last year the Tories and Lib Dems closed the Cookley rehab ward and now the Tories plan to close the GP centre in the Kidderminster hospital.

Health bosses in Worcestershire have also tried for over ten years to close maternity services in Redditch. They closed it ‘temporarily’ in November 2015 and now plan to make it permanent after a consultation process in June.

Overall, the Tories are forcing £50 million cuts on the NHS in Worcestershire while at the same time Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs) are bleeding Worcestershire NHS dry. Over 30 years we will pay £852 million for the Worcester Royal hospital!

The mark up in terms of cost of PFI schemes is normally four times the original cost of the building of the hospital; for us it is nearly ten times.

We demand that the Alex Maternity Unit is reopened, all cuts are opposed and the PFI scheme at Worcestershire Royal is brought into the NHS.