150 health workers, families and supporters marched through Grimsby town centre on 8th June in protest about cuts to terms and conditions as the Care Plus Group attempts to cut £900,000 from its budget. Callum Stanland, from Unite Community in Grimsby, reports on the latest demonstration against the Coalition’s attack on the NHS.
150 health workers, families and supporters marched through Grimsby town centre on 8th June in protest about cuts to terms and conditions as the Care Plus Group attempts to cut £900,000 from its budget.
Care Plus Group, a social enterprise which is contracted to provide NHS services, is threatening to dismiss 100s of workers including specialist nurses, and employ them on inferior contracts.
The march was organised jointly by Unite, Unison and the Royal College of Nursing.
Dave Monaghan of Unite, said “Care Plus Group pretends to be the NHS but they are not. If they want to use the NHS logo they should give their workers NHS conditions”
There are already concerns that Care Plus Group will be unable to deliver services as specialist nurses, who have had enough of being treated badly and having their terms and conditions attacked, leave their jobs and no replacements can be found in this sector which is notoriously hard to recruit into.
This is part of the privatisation of the NHS and the cuts to local services. NHS services have already been fragmented in North East Lincolnshire and private companies like Virgin who have taken over local sexual health services (no really!) are sweeping in to feed off the remains of local NHS services.
Labour needs to stand up and fight to keep our NHS out of the hands of the big business vultures like Virgin. Labour should fight against all cuts and privatisations of the NHS. Only a Labour government elected on a manifesto of the socialist transformation of society – by nationalising the banks and insurance houses can defend our public services from cuts.
