Protest About Closures & Lack of Consultation in Epsom
It seems service users arent the only ones questioning cuts, level of consultation and externalisation of services as NHS staff and members of the public plan to demonstrate in Epsom. Any information on this would be warmly welcomed as might be interesting to hand a few leaflets out on day.
"Thousands of people have taken to take to the streets of Leeds to protest over NHS cuts.
Demonstrations like this have drawn enormous support at events across England, prompted by concerns over job losses and possible cuts in services.
Many politicians and activists are scornful of the public consultations over these changes.
Just why is there such deep public mistrust?
Last month thousands of demonstrators packed the centre of Guildford. There have been similar protests in Hayward's Heath and Worthing.
I think it's fantastic that local people care so much about the health service
Candy Morris , South East Coast Regional Health Authority
There is another coming up in Epsom - all about saving local hospitals.
Rumours are rife about cuts in services. There is going to be a consultation, but protestors were wary of a stitch-up.
"I'm hoping this rally will do something," said one, "but I don't think that it will have much effect because I think it may be a fait accompli."
Another said: "I don't trust them. I think it's all done and dusted. I think it's all about money."
Big deficit
Surrey has five major hospitals. It is easy to see why campaigners fear the worst.
The local NHS region is heading for a deficit of more than £90million. Yet services have to be financially sustainable.
posted by simply human @ 5:10 am
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The pressure is on to mystify patient rights of consultations as well short change them on diminishing services by the State and local Govt civil servants behaving in a way that tell them "We are trying to make you more independent" - ofcopurse I am talking about MH here :
The looming NHS deficit and the Council Cuts (like we see in Coventry) are just another example of poor GNP re-redistribution policy , a lack of marketisation in MH that keeps people dependent and poorly supported by it in a circle they cannot properly get out of ..
We learn from the Health Service Journal :
10 November 2006
NHS deficits to rise to almost £1.2bn
The NHS is forecasting gross deficits for the year of £1,179m compared with £883m at quarter one and £1,312m at the end of 2005-06. Some 175 organisations are now forecasting debts compared with 120 at quarter 1.
www.dh.gov.uk
So there is more Brown-stuff to come .
.
Then even the more reason to press for money not to be wasted on exploitative disability employment schemes and spent instead on treatment and care and on providing professional employment services for those service users who are able to and want to work so that in line with the law they are paid at the national minimum wage..
Its only because of this £3 a day nonsense, or worse , the expectation that disabled people will work for nothing, that these appalling disability work schemes are able to operate and expand at all.
The Government would dearly love to reduce the cost of the provision of MH treatment and care to £3 a head and that's the point, service users who think that employment issues and rights are irelevant to or , worse, even a threat to their concerns and situations are deceiving themselves because add a degree of compulsion and the growing disability employment sector becomes the very mechanism that will enable the Gvernment to get down to that per capita figure or lower for provision for service users while giving ever increasing amounts of money to the scoundrels that run them.
These disability employment schemes are not going to go away just because we say the money should be put to other uses , the only way to curb them is to prove that they are acting unlawfully and discriminating against the very people they claim to be helping otherwise the £3 a day or unpaid work schemes are going to be the only activity based services on offer because through economies of scale , they'll cost so little to run once large numbers of people start being juggled around inside them.
To the tune of The Smiths..Back to the Old House
"I would rather not go
back to the workhouse
It's boring there,
no sense of worth
Just entry level
certificates
and more dead ends"
Mandy
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