Around 30 people were able to make it to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham to demonstrate about the cuts the NHS is facing.
This demonstration was called on Saturday following the front page news story from Birmingham Mail that 700 beds are going to be lost from hospitals around Birmingham and Solihull as trusts seek to find “efficiency savings” (remember, the NHS budget is ringfenced!).
The QE Hospital is facing 17% budget cuts, which will lead to the reduction of admissions and outpatient appointments by 3,000 and 37,000 respectively.
Elsewhere, the Heart of England trust is cutting 20% of jobs (1,600 posts), and Sandwell and Dudley trust is facing £12m cuts.
Birmingham Mail have posted a video report of the demo
The NHS faces challenges from both budgetary cuts and the Health bill whose reforms open the NHS up to private companies coming in to make profits from taxpayers and move it a huge step towards being fully privatised. The Blood Service is already facing part-privatisation, and had originally been proposed to be fully privatised.
The tories will privatise the NHS if they can, but we can stop them. There are two events coming up concerning the NHS that could go to, and we are hearing of a local campaign being setup by members of 38Degrees, which we hope to have more news on soon..
On Thursday, John Lister from Health Emergency will be talking about the campaign to Save The NHS at our public meeting in Birmingham
On Saturday, UK Uncut have called a national day of action titled “Emergency Operation: Transform the Banks, Save the NHS” to draw attention to the cuts and the Health Bill reforms that will end what we currently know the NHS to be. In Birmingham, the meeting point is 11am, by Waterstones, near the Bull Statue.
