TRADE unions and Labour Party leaders yesterday condemned the government over cuts to the NHS that have put patients at risk.
The were responding to the British Red Cross warning of a ‘humanitarian crisis’ in hospital and ambulance services. GMB, the union for NHS and ambulance staff said: ‘In the current crisis, the Red Cross has already provided support to staff at the East Midlands Ambulance Service across Nottingham, Leicester, Lincoln, Kettering and Northampton – as well as boosting existing support at home services to alleviate pressure.’
Rehana Azam, GMB National Secretary, said: ‘This road to ruin is where our NHS is heading under Theresa May’s Tories. It’s an indictment of this government’s shambolic and negligent health policy that struggling NHS services and public servants are having to rely on charitable hand- outs just to function. We need to see immediate action from the Prime Minister to address this intolerable crisis and to support GMB members in delivering frontline health services.’
Responding to the news that the Red Cross has declared a humanitarian crisis in hospitals as volunteers have been drafted in to help staff, BMA chair of council, Dr Mark Porter, said: ‘This intervention from the Red Cross highlights the enormous pressure the NHS is currently facing as conditions in hospitals across the country are reaching a dangerous level.
‘The government should be ashamed that it has got to the point where volunteers have been necessary to ease the burden. The devastating consequences of the lack of commitment to funding for health and social care have become all too apparent and patients are enduring one of the worst winters on record.
‘Staff are working flat-out in extremely difficult conditions. The government must take responsibility for the patients whose care and safety is being put at risk and urgently get to grips with this crisis situation.’
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: ‘The crisis in our NHS is unprecedented. People are lying on trolleys in corridors waiting to be seen. Hospitals have had to close their doors, unable to admit patients. The health service is at breaking point.
‘But this crisis is not due to an outbreak of disease. It is a crisis made in Downing Street by this government – a crisis we warned them about. The Red Cross yesterday announced it is providing humanitarian assistance to NHS trusts that simply do not have the resources to cope. This is a national scandal – and Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt have to take both responsibility and urgent action to tackle it.’ Corbyn concluded: ‘Our NHS cannot survive if this government does not change course.’
Dave Wiltshire, secretary of the All Trades Unions Alliance commented: ‘Corbyn is talking nonsense. The NHS will only survive by the trade unions calling a general strike to defend it, and bringing the May government down and bringing a workers’ government and socialism in!
‘All workers who are determined to fight for the NHS must attend the ATUA national conference on February 11th where an action plan to defend the NHS and bring down this government will be set in motion.’
