A campaign group have claim ‘our NHS faces extinction’, as they lead the fight to prevent the downgrading of six district hospitals in Greater Manchester.
Keep Our NHS Public are opposed to the government’s Healthier Together scheme, which is aiming to reform the way in which patients in the region receive health and care.
However, in a ‘Getting Together against Healthier Together’ conference on Saturday, lobbyists decided to fight the changes, with conference organiser Hugh Caffrey labelling projected cuts as ‘unwanted and unnecessary’.
“Our NHS faces extinction at their hands,” he said.
“That is why we will fight at every step to save our hospitals and all the vital services they provide.
“These cuts are unwanted and unnecessary except in the penny-pinching schemes of those politicians who would rather we had the American model of healthcare-for-profit.
“Revelations that North Manchester General is to be 70% flattened to make way for a housing estate proves our assertion that we are in a fight for the future of our local hospitals.
“We are fully in support of the judicial review over the downgrading at Wythenshawe and will be looking at the basis for legal cases at the other five threatened hospitals as one plank of an upscaled fightback against this terrible threat to healthcare across Greater Manchester.”
Actions which the group are looking to take include lobbying Clinical Commissioning Groups and local politicians, writing for support from key Labour figures – including Jeremy Corbyn – and mounting protests.
‘Getting Together against Healthier Together’ will reconvene in January.
To learn more about the group, click here.
