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From The Socialist newspaper, 31 January 2018
8,000 strong petition opposes closure of Sheffield health services
Save our NHS, photo Paul Mattsson, photo Paul Mattsson (Click to enlarge)
Alistair Tice, Yorkshire Socialist Party
Socialist Party members took part as over 8,000 signatures on petitions were presented by Sheffield Save Our NHS, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition and Labour Party members against the proposed closure of the minor injuries unit at Hallamshire hospital and the walk-in centre in Sheffield to a meeting of the clinical commissioning group (CCG).
The CCG argues that these proposals aren't about making cuts, but to improve access to GP appointments. It says that the money 'saved' would be 'moved around' to fund GPs surgeries grouping together to offer patients a same- day appointment.
They also say: "There's lots of places that provide urgent care... we've heard it's quite confusing. Patients don't know where to go or when to go in many cases."
So the CCG is proposing closures so that patients aren't confused!
People use these services precisely because they can't get GP appointments.
If the CCG really wants to make GP same-day appointments possible, then they should invest in that first and prove that it will actually work.
These proposals must be stopped. But the consultation exercise is a sham. It's a tick box exercise where all the options are variants of what the CCG wants with no option of keeping the walk-in centre and minor injuries unit open.
Our campaigning has forced an extension of the consultation period and put back the date of the final decision to September. We must use that time to build as big a campaign of opposition as possible to stop these closures.
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The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.
The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.
The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.
- The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
- When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.
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In The Socialist 31 January 2018:
Save our NHS
NHS: use the 3 February protests as a launch pad for a mass movement
Northern health campaigns conference discusses the fightback
8,000 strong petition opposes closure of Sheffield health services
Labour NHS rally reveals horrors but offers no way forward
Opinion
Trump as Nixon: urgent questions about press freedom and the state
Women's liberation
For workplace trade union organisation against sexual harassment
Presidents Club sexism scandal: what you thought
100 years since women won the vote
Socialist Party workplace news
Victory for Hackney school cleaners!
Local government workers' reps reject 2% pay offer
University workers' walkout for decent pensions
Supermarket's slash jobs - union fightback needed
Cammell Lairds strikers demand improved pay and conditions
Socialist Party news and analysis
Labour civil war re-erupts over Haringey regeneration project
Tory infighting escalates - workers' action can oust them
Failing academy chain strips school assets - end academisation!
Capitalists fear for their system at Davos
Majority of kids poor in some areas
Socialist Party reports and campaigns
Fat cat vice chancellors schooled by Brum students
Confident London Socialist Party conference discusses key issues
Your newspaper fights with you: help fund it with May Day greetings
Bristol anti-cuts campaigners debate alternatives to the cuts
International socialist news and analysis
Vienna: 50,000 march against racism and austerity
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