NHS staff from across Cambridgeshire will be joining hundreds of health service
workers from across the country for a lobby of Parliament on Wednesday 1 November.
Staff from Hinchingbrooke hospital will be meeting MPs at Westminster at the lobby,
which is being organised by NHS Together, a new alliance of all the unions and organisations representing NHS staff.
The message that Hinchingbrooke Hospital staff will be taking to local MPs is two fold.
First that more should be done to recognise the many improvements in the NHS in recent
years brought about by both increased government investment and the commitment of NHS staff. But secondly that progress in the NHS is now under threat for three reasons:
Sudden budget cuts in some NHS Trusts like Hinchingbrooke Hospital are threatening
jobs and patients.- There is now too much top down and untested change that has failed to involve or win the support of staff.
The fragmentation of the NHS is hindering the ability of health professional at Hinchingbrooke Hospital to provide the best possible patient care locally.
Commenting on the lobby, Mike Gough of Save Hinchingbrooke said:
“NHS staff are proud of the real improvements in the health service in recent years,
but we are increasingly worried that progress is now under threat. That is why
all NHS staff – doctors, nurses, clinical, technical, administrative and support staff
– are joining together to ring the alarm when we meet local MPs.
“Staff morale is at an all time low. We support changes that improve patient care,
but there is too much top down change that has not won the support or involvement
of the staff who have to implement it. The slow down in spending is being handled badly,
with real cuts on the ground. And we are very worried that the NHS is being fragmented
with a rapid dash to the private sector and the introduction of competition. The government should do more to recognise the progress made by their extra money and our hard work,
and should make sure that change and reform involves the staff who will have to deliver it.”
Media contact details:
For further information please call 07984 413839
NOTES TO EDITORS:
More information about the lobby of parliament and NHS together is available at www.nhstogether.org.uk
Membership of NHS Together consists of Amicus; British Dietetic Association; British Orthoptic Society; British Medical Association; Community and District Nursing Association; Chartered Society of Physiotherapy; GMB; Hospital Consultants' and Specialists' Association; Managers in Partnership; Royal College of Midwives; Royal College of Nursing; The Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists; Society of Radiographers; Transport and General Workers Union; TUC; Unison
