Coventry Socialist Party
500 people marched in Rugby on Saturday 26 October against the closure of almost a quarter of the beds at the Hospital of St Cross. The announcement was made by University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust on 16 October, with the closure planned for 4 December, just seven weeks’ notice.
The Socialist Party calls for the decision to close Hoskyn Ward to be halted and for a proper public consultation.
Among the invited speakers at the rally were Socialist Party members Steve Score (former chair of Save Glenfield Children’s Heart Centre in Leicester) and Dave Nellist (Secretary, Coventry Keep Our NHS Public campaign). Rugby’s newly elected Labour MP, John Slinger, was also invited but said he was “unable to attend”.
Dave Nellist, the former Coventry MP, pointed to a “hoovering up” of health services from Rugby – the loss of local maternity services, the downgrading of the Accident and Emergency department, the closure of the ambulance station and now the closure of Hoskyn Ward at St Cross. He argued that these cuts directly resulted from “a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) model that prioritises centralised care at the Coventry super-hospital over the needs of local communities.”
Steve explained how the successful campaign that saved Glenfield had been built with a succession of local public meetings and with the involvement of families, campaigners, staff and, importantly, the trade union movement. His message was: “If you fight, you can win!”
The Socialist Party will help spread support for the residents of Rugby in their campaign to retain and restore a publicly funded NHS that is democratically controlled and ensures a full range of services are readily available within local communities.
Campaigners have organised a further march on Saturday 16 November, assembling at Whitehall Recreation Ground, Rugby, at 11am
