Swindon TUC and Keep Our NHS Public (Swindon) are hosting a crucial event about our NHS. On Saturday 5th May 2018 from 10am to 4pm, Central Community Centre, Emlyn Square, Swindon they invite the public, campaigners and NHS workers to explore the issues facing the NHS through speakers, debate and workshops.
We are fortunate to start the day with talks from Aneira Thomas, the first NHS baby and a strong supporter and campaigner for the NHS, plus Dr Tony O’Sullivan, Co-chair of Keep our NHS Public.
Swindon TUC Organising Offer, John Turnbull said “The NHS is under attack. Underfunding and privatisation are creating a crisis in the health service. The good news is that there is a fight back. This event will be hearing success stories from workers who booted Virgin out of Bristol NHS to campaigns to successfully keep the NHS free and accessible to the most vulnerable in society and more. We can save our NHS, and this event will give everyone from NHS staff to service users and members of the community the tools they need to campaign and win.’
Other speakers on the day will be, Fernando Parra, a grassroot NHS trade unionist from UNISON, Kate Linnegar, newly elected Labour Parliamentary candidate for north Swindon and a Community Hospital campaign group.
Keep Our NHS Public in Swindon was established here a year ago in response to the ever-growing crisis in our NHS. They commented “It is crucially important for all of us both at local and national level to fight cuts, closures and privatisation and to send a clear message to the government that the steady erosion of our NHS is not something we will tolerate. In our last year we have been joined national campaigns and demonstrations and are currently involved in the quest to stop the permanent closure of our local Place of Safety for mental health service users.”
Kevin Brandstatter, Public Services Section and National Lead Organiser for the GMB union, will also be speaking. He said “For years the NHS has suffered from various adventures involving bringing private money into the Health Service. Compulsory contracting out of cleaning, catering and facilities management, are commonplace. The disastrous shambles that was PFI, is now widely understood to have leached money out of the NHS, rather than bring it in. Now the evolution of Sustainable Transformation Projects and Accountable Care Organisations is causing further fundamental change, but now the stimulus for privatisation is coming from within, with NHS trusts establishing arm’s length companies to undertake non-clinical work. These are all clear attack on NHS workers and should be resisted but are succeeding by stealth.”
Entry is free for all, and there will be many stalls, workshops, speakers and refreshments available, more details at [email protected] or https://www.facebook.com/swindontuc/
