Rob Owen
In Llanelli, south west Wales, the threatened closure of Prince Philip accident and emergency unit will not be accepted without a fight.
The proposals will put more strain on other hospitals and see a worse service for people in Llanelli, Carmarthen and Swansea.
The cutting of hospital services is an attempt to provide lower quality health treatment on the cheap. Community based treatment could be supported if it was properly funded and in place before hospital reconfiguration, with no job losses.
Instead, reconfiguration plans will follow the fate of the underfunded mental health care in the community, where vulnerable patients have been left isolated.
Already the NHS in Wales is struggling. In September, 33,312 people in Wales had been waiting for six months or more for hospital treatment. This figure is set to soar as more cuts begin to bite.
Llanelli and West Wales Socialist Party, alongside Llanelli Against the Cuts, has been campaigning against all cuts, from Westminster, Cardiff and Carmarthenshire administrations.
The health cuts have to be fought, but they also need to be linked into the fight against all public sector cuts. A united struggle mobilising the growing anger developing can succeed in forcing health boards, local authorities and governments to back down over their cuts agenda.
- No to the proposed cuts at Prince Philip hospital
- Stop the Welsh government cutbacks in the NHS!
- Get private profiteers out of our health service
- Make the billionaire bankers pay for their crisis!
A Socialist Party public meeting on 31 January at 7.30pm in Stamps, John Street will be followed by a demonstration organised by Llanelli trades council on 11 February at 11am, gathering at Llanelli town hall.
