Saturday 10th March 2018

Save South Tyneside Hospital Campaign on the March

On Saturday March 10th campaigners from SSTHC took part in a vibrant march and rally in Newcastle. The event was called by eight local campaigns and the North East Peoples Assembly as part of the fight in the north east to safeguard the future of our NHS against the downgrading and closure of hospital services:

The march from Framlington Place, for a rally at the Monument, was joined by around 1000 people. The rally was addressed by actors Stephen Tompkinson and Denis Lawson. Emma Lewell-Buck (MP for South Shields) and Roger Nettleship (SSTHC Chair) spoke on behalf of SSTHC.

...It's great to be back in the North East again. I loved working here in the old days when I used to be a psychologist in this area. So thank you for inviting me.

...I'm only interested in how we are going to win. That's what matters. Our fight is to save our NHS. We want a 'Bevanite' NHS, with no cuts or closures, fair pay to all NHS staff, and a universal publicly owned and publicly provided NHS, that's what we want isn't it?

It's great to have big demos like this, but we need to do more. We need to tip the balance of power in our favour at every level. Even if it means getting rid of this government, and reinstating the NHS. Since 2010 this government have put in place measures to privatise [our NHS], and under-fund it by 22 billion pounds. They and companies like Virgin Care, are determined to have their way, and we plan to stop them.

So what do we do? Health Campaigns Together was set up in late 2015 to respect the hundreds and hundreds of groups across England like this one, organising protests, lobbies and teachings. So we set up a Health Campaigns Together alliance, that those groups can affiliate to, and many have.

What have we learned? We have learned some ways we can win. Firstly, to tell the public in every single way we can. That's number one - tell people what is going on. Secondly, to respect health workers and their unions - caterers, nurses, doctors, cleaners. To form alliances with everyone we can [including]: health campaigns, local and national affiliations from nearly all health unions, and others such as the Fire Brigades Union (who go on demonstrations and say 'we save lives - not banks'), and the teachers unions. Health workers hold our NHS together, despite all the cut backs. We need to all join together in solidarity. ...Thirdly, we need to vociferously challenge all those who make decisions like local councils, commissioning groups, MPs (especially in vulnerable marginal seats), and of course the government. We want victories like the struggle which has been partially successful in South Tyneside in the last few days.

So what is happening? Who caused this crisis? It's caused by underfunding, fragmentation and marketisation. Professor Stephen Hawking said:

“The crisis in the health services has been created by politicians who want to privatise it, when public opinion and the evidence point in the opposite direction.”

Professor Stephen Hawking

On the one hand, there is the force of the multi-national companies driven by their profit motive pushing toward U.S. style private health care for those who can afford it. Instead we need loud voices and the political power to make changes. ...Take Virgin Care, in Surrey they sued six commissioning groups because they didn't get their way. It cost the NHS - that's us - 2 million pounds. But we are building a mighty movement and we are fighting back. Last month in Lancashire, a judge blocked Virgin Care from taking over children's services because it would disrupt clinical pathways - that's about health and care, and education and social care. That's what were fighting for. That is a victory for us and we must fight for more. In Lewisham (London) a campaign and petition turned round a council decision to cut children's mental health services - another victory for us.

The Tories have amplified the commissioner-provider split, and pushed forward legislation recently to bring in faster privatisation. The latest creation of this nonsense is called 'Accountable Care Organisations' or 'Integrated Care Organisations'. But protesters like us, a judicial review and the Labour Party in opposition, have made them put a temporary pause on its implementation. So there's another victory.

So despite the crushing power of the government, there are more victories. Take Chatsworth (in Mansfield - Nottinghamshire) for example. The rehabilitation ward there set up a campaign including campaigners, staff and patients. They insisted that the managers met in the ward, and the campaign stopped the closure. So I'm saying were not here to moan, were here to organise and win. We challenge every level of decision making, every time, from council health-and-well-being to commissioning groups and MPs. We'll work with Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party as we often can these days. We need to replace this government, and we will.

It's really important to build local and national alliances. HCT has strong connections with Unison, Unite, The TUC and other health unions. We have a brilliant website, as does our sister organisation 'Keep Our NHS Public', and I really champion our quarterly newspaper.

Thanks very much everyone for being here today. I also want to say a special thank you to our hard working and dedicated NHS staff. The porters, the cleaners, the nurses, the GPs, surgeons and consultants, and every single person who works tirelessly every day to make our NHS the envy of the world. The Tories are presiding over privatisation-by-stealth of our NHS. This February has been the worst ever on record for our NHS. A&E performance fell to its lowest level. Our amazing NHS staff are having to constantly apologise to patients for a disaster that is not of their own making. This government are removing services and closing hospitals up and down the country.

To add insult to injury, just this week our hard working nurses have been told - if you want a pay rise, make sure you don't loose your holiday leave as well! This government is wasting precious finances on reorganisation and fighting corporate legal battles - such as Virgin who sued the NHS because it lost out on a bid to provide private health care. I've got a message for your Mr Branson, our NHS is not for profit. If you don't like it, go sit on your tax free island and take a long hard look at yourself.

Many of you here today will know of our campaign in South Tyneside. What lots of you won't know is how brave some of the staff have been who have come to me (and Gemma and Roger), putting their own jobs in jeopardy. Working under the subtle implied threat that if they join our campaign, or share information with us, then their jobs are on the line. To them you are the true heroes of this. ...The people power we have in South Tyneside led to yesterdays vote of no confidence in our local health leaders.

Friends, the fight for South Tyneside Hospital is a fight for all of us. No hospital is safe under this government's watch. There is an end game here, and that end game is where our NHS no longer exists. What we need is a labour government and Jeremy Corbyn in No.10, so we can halt the privatisation and so we can repeal the health and social care act, and put patients once again before profit. Labour created the NHS, it's our proudest achievement. Universal health care for all on the basis of need and free at the point use, no matter where you are or where you are from.

Good afternoon everyone how are you? I just want to mention about the underfunding. The underfunding of the NHS is a political decision, that has resulted in huge pressure being placed on all NHS staff, who are desperately trying to keep services going. And for patients, there are longer waits for GP appointments, hours spent lying on trolleys in hospital corridors, rationing of treatments and avoidable deaths. The NHS staff work hard. The problem is underfunding and cuts. The 'Sustainability and Transformation Plans' that the government and local Clinical Commissioning Groups are trying to introduce, will lead to further cuts, closures and privatisation. STP does not stand for 'Sustainability and Transformation Plan', we believe that it stands for 'Slash, Trash and Privatise'. We are extremely concerned and worried about the local Clinical Commissioning Group recommendation to transfer some very busy health departments from South Tyneside General Hospital to the General Hospital in Sunderland. People will have to travel miles for treatment, and many people can't afford this. We are also concerned that there are plans to close the one and only inpatient ward at Rothbury Cottage Hospital, in a rural community in Northumberland.

...It's absolutely fantastic to be here today and to see so many other people, and of course to have famous faces joining us. The importance of that is getting the message out about what this Tory government is doing with our NHS, and indeed all of our public services. The reality is that the Tories have been lying year on year. They are not funding the NHS, and we're now seeing the impact of their political decisions. That impact includes: waiting lists getting longer, demand rising, people not being able to get treatment and a whole range of other things. This government has the audacity and the shame to blame the NHS staff. It's an outrage that they do that, and we need to make it clear to them that we will not join them in their campaign of trying to demolish the NHS, [which they do by] underfunding it, running it down, making sure there is not enough staff, ...charging other staff to do extra training.

We also need to make sure that we call them out on what there strategy actually is. It's very simple, under-fund it, run it down, say that it's not delivering and then hand it over to Richard Branson and his cronies so they can make massive profits.

...[Consider] the staff in Carilion at Middlesbrough hospital, the lowest paid people doing some of the most important jobs like keeping hospitals clean for people to use, and through no fault of their own, they don't know now if they have a job. If they do have a job, their wages may be cut, and they don't know if their going to get their pension contributions. What we do know is that the shareholders from Carilion, shored up by this Tory government, have taken over a million pounds out. Their pensions aren't under threat. Their wages aren't under threat. It is not right, and that's why it's so important that we have events like this, and as has previously been said, we all come together, trade unions, all public sector workers, and everyone in our communities.

...I'm really proud to be standing in front of you today as Unite's head of health, bringing you greetings and heartfelt thanks from Unite members. We thank you for standing up for the NHS that thousands of our members work in and all of our members use. Without your passion and determination the fight to save our NHS would have been lost long ago. Be in no doubt that it is a fight. Everyday we are hearing new stories about attempts to reduce services, to attack the professionalism of our members, and to privatise our NHS.

In this year of all years, 70 years since the NHS was born, we have seen the growth of some of the very sneakiest attacks on services and workers in the form of 'wholly-owned subsidiaries'. This is where NHS staff are moved over to companies that are effectively a tax dodge for cash strapped NHS trusts. [The staff] are told that it is happening to save the NHS money, well we know that this is just a continuation of what Unite has always called 'Slash Trash and Privatise'. We will fight these plans wherever they rear their heads.

...There was something very special that happened last Sunday at the elections in Italy. All the parties were standing on a platform of anti-immigration. As we know, in the NHS, immigration is absolutely crucial to keep the NHS going. So we have to fight this racism that is going on. The Daily Mail goes on about health tourism, but we know that is a drop in the ocean [of anti-NHS propaganda]. What they are trying to do is direct attention away from privatisation.

Thanks very much. I'd like to thank you all for coming out in this weather. It's absolutely brilliant to have a march for the NHS this Saturday in the rain. ...Emma Lewell-Buck spoke on behalf of the campaign earlier on, so I'm not going to say very much. She spoke brilliantly about how the fight has been taken up both locally and nationally.

...I think it is important to say that yesterday the Joint Health Scrutiny Committee (JHSC) referred the decision to downgrade our hospital to the Secretary of State for Health. This means that we can take the battle to Westminster where it belongs, and I think that's our next project. I think were going to lobby parliament as part of our campaign to save these services. The decision the JHSC took was brilliant. They took it on the basis that [firstly] the [outcome of the consultation] was predetermined. Secondly, it is not in the best interests of the health service. Amazing isn't it - NOT IN THE BEST INTERSTS OF THE HEALTH SERVICE. How can their decision be ignored. Members of the committee from both South Tyneside and Sunderland made some very important and damming criticisms showing how deeply they had looked at the evidence. Showing how the proposal from the CCG to decimate our health service in South Tyneside, will have a huge impact on the health service in Sunderland as well. So a very big thank you to them. I have seen one or two of them here.

...I would also like to thank our solicitors. ...They wrote to the CCG before it made a decision and had taken advice from the council. They told the CCG straight away that any decision to downgrade these services on the basis of this consultation is unlawful. The CCG ignored it, and so they are going to suffer the consequences, because we are building a crowd fund to [support] our judicial review in South Tyneside. ...People throughout the North East have been supporting us and indeed throughout the country. I'd like to thank everyone in South Tyneside.

I'd like to give a big thanks to Gemma Taylor our coordinator, Marion Langley (Staff Side Chair, Unison Health Branch, South Tyneside District Hospital), David Donoghue (Branch Secretary of Unite). I'd like to add my voice to what Emma said about our very brave nurses and clinicians who are standing up and fighting every day to defend the service. They are a model for everyone to follow. I'd also like to give a mention to our councillors and MPs who have came up with the goods, and are supporting the campaign, and are making every effort to stop the downgrading of our hospital going ahead.

Save North Tyneside NHS was initiated by members of the Socialist Party and the National Shop Stewards Network, drawing on strong support from Labour-lefts, independent socialists, trade unionists, service users and most importantly - NHS workers. We thank you in particular, those of us who work in the health service, non-clinical and clinical, we're all under attack by this government and its hard-right cronies.

We can echo the words and experiences of health workers from across the region, that there is a climate of bullying and intimidation, and most of all this attack that has been scathingly launched on us by this government determined to see us backed up against the wall even further, burned out and frustrated, whilst we prop up a service that is failing by design.

On the bright side, we scored a victory. We delayed the plans of the CCG to cut, close, and eventually if they could, privatise our walk-in centres until November. We still have time to fight because of the profile of our campaign, [I.e.] how active and visible we have been, the support we have received from KONP North East and Health Campaigns Together North East. We are happy to deliver that solidarity in return. Tangible support.

Hi, Sunderland & District Keep Our NHS Public group was launched in January. What took us so long? Actually most of us have been working with the Save South Tyneside Hospital Campaign, to stop the transfer of those vital services from South Tyneside Hospital to Sunderland, which will be extremely damaging and potentially dangerous for South Tyneside residents, and will massively overload Sunderland, making these servies unsafe too.

Public and staff views have been completely ignored, but you've heard about the Scrutiny Committee, they have refferred this appauling decision to the Secretary of State - the only problem is - that's Jeremy Hunt. Anyway, we will coninue with the fight.

In Sunderland we are also concerned about the plan to introduce an MCP - a Multi-Speciality Community Provider. The jargon just gets more incredible. It's supposed to be a new approach, joining up out-of-hospital health and care services. Of course NHS and social services staff have been working together for years before the cuts and the fragmentation of services - which were made worse by to coalition's 2012 Health and Social Care Act, when competition replaced cooperation, and privatisation was encouraged. Our cash strapped local authority (funding for social care cut by over 37 percent), is refusing to put its budget into this MCP. Our local hospitals have also withdrawn support. But the plan is charging ahead. This single massive 10 year MCP contract to run all out-of-hospital services (including GPs and community services) will be irresistible to private contractors and the likes of Virgin.

Government claim that these contracts are needed for the joined up services we all want. In reality they will destroy our NHS. The costs of privatisation - estimated at 4.5 billion per year - are equivalent to 10 specialist hospitals, 175 thousand extra nurses, or over 43 thousand extra GPs. The example of Carillion, shows why the NHS should be restored to being publicly owned, publicly planned and funded through taxation. The NHS crisis is a crisis of this government's making, and this government's choice. Our NHS is not unaffordable or unsustainable, it is underfunded and under-resourced. The UK has the worlds sixth largest economy, but its spending on health care is the lowest of the G7 countries. We were able to afford a decent NHS and a welfare state after the second world war when we had no money. Of course, there is always plenty of money for war!

I am a nurse. I am a patient of the NHS, and a member of KONP North East based in Tyneside. I think everyone has said this message, but I'm going to say it again. The main message we want to get across today is that this is the time that we all need to take action in whatever way we can. There has never been a time in the history of the NHS were its future has been so desperate. Everything it stands for is being dismantled and eroded. As we all know, from all these amazing speakers, are country is rapidly moving towards a future where the NHS will be run by private companies, ACOs, Virgin Health care [etc.] who's main aim is to make profit. This is how the American health care system is run. A country where life expectancy is reducing, where inequality is increasing, most people can't afford cancer care, and most doctors would rather work in a system like ours.

These changes are complex, and happening silently. Hidden behind abbreviations and terminology. On the surface most people think nothing has changed. Every day I speak to patents, and no-one has a clue what is happening. To save our NHS, we need as many people as we can to understand what is happening, and to take action. Obviously everyone here is motivated and doing things, but we need more people to get involved. ...We need this subject to come alive. So please, we need to talk to as many people as we can. What we're campaigning for is:

Solidarity and greetings from the University and College Union to this rally. ...Thank you to everyone who has been down to our picket lines over the last couple of weeks. As Tony said, where in a massive fight. UCU members at Newcastle University and Durham University, and universities around the country (64 in total) are on strike over pensions. Our pensions are likely to see a reduction of 10 thousand pounds a year in retirement, and we don't think that's acceptable.

...It's UCU members who teach and train the medical staff of the future. It was fitting that the march today started at the medical school at Newcastle University.

This reminds me of when we welcomed Jeremy Corbyn at Gateshead Stadium. 10 thousand people in the rain, after that disastrous general election called by Teresa May, where we showed how people do have a vision for the future. Jeremy saw how the North East and Newcastle wants a progressive future.

...Angela Rayner (Shadow Secretary of State for Education) is working on a National Education Service, which will provide free education from the cradle to the grave. That is based upon our National Health Service, the greatest achievement of the Labour government.

...Assaults on pay and working conditions of NHS staff [are driving some to use food banks].

...I've lost count of the number of times we've had to march for the NHS, but we have to keep on doing it because [we are fighting] a plan to under-fund the NHS, privatise bits of it, let competition in, and then the NHS will be so undermined, ...that it will loose its place in people's hearts and they can sell it all off.

...The only way for the NHS to fulfil the vision of its founders, for it to be the NHS we need, is to keep it public. There are some things the market can not do, and guaranteeing the health of poor people is one of them. So what we need to say day-in-and-day-out, is that the NHS needs to be public, it needs to be for the people, and it needs to be in the people's hands.

...In Newcastle we have great hospitals. In the North East we have some of the worst health outcomes in the country. The reason for that is because we have some of the highest levels of poverty in the country. The NHS needs to be properly funded so that it doesn't matter if your born in West Gosforth or Walker, you live the same amount of years. Right now there is a 15 year life expectancy gap.

...I want to assure you that the Labour Party is absolutely committed to funding the NHS properly. I can't say keeping it public, because so much of it is private now, so I'll say MAKING IT PUBLIC AGAIN. In Newcastle GP services are closing because they are having to be contracted for every few years. We have to change the whole system of contracting within the NHS to make sure that it is public.