Axe over Manchester health

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Aftos the man firht maths finht fos inhe and rosuror LIKE others throughout Britain, hospital workers in Manchester have been stabbed in the back by Spanswick and his conspirators. But we are here now faced with mutilation by the North-Western Regional Health Authority and the DHSS.

No sooner were the knives of section action pulled out than we read our obituaries in the evening paper. We'd lost the national pay battle, but also in Central Manchester -one of our three District Health Authorities - there are to be 250 surgical beds relocated' with a consequent loss of at least 600 jobs.

Further, this story had been leaked to the press, Dox by management, but by a consultant. The bosses Region were enraged that their masks of concern for the NHS had been ripped eway to expose the Fath thas they are merely be ciging semants of Fores IT FEE DE REDES DEFERE DDE DEERE DE! SÕET HIS replacemert - John Page - concasiy mows where de sit perbeque is DATEDE CIDE: = te= Tear StrateEx plan pubbshed in 1979 Region estimated that Ajeer int pay jigr - now int Central Manchester DHA would serve a much smaller population as people moved to the suburbs. This meant relocating certain services to outlying areas from the prestigious Manchester royal Infirmary, St. Mary's Hospital, and the Royal Eye Hospital.

At a meeting on lovember 29. 1982 ibe Region and the DHSS sex to 1 ser I IN DE: 1005 # 20 =reductions should begin by 1985: 4.

But the Region's figures are extremely dubious, and even the Community Health Council - not exactly a revolutionary socialist body — has recom¡gre jur jous are ser va to mended that they be rejected. The Joint Shop Stewards Committee, which came out of last year's dispute, have numerous and powerful objections to the strategic plan.

Crucially. the statistics underestimate ibe suzbers of patients né ¿ reas The!

DATE TEN SETTEE I INDIES DE BATODE IT TIE LEE DESE Enget outside our catchment area. Region has failed to allow for the choice of hospital by patients and GPs. Moreover, we take patients from way outside Manchester. • Are peripheral hospitals going to be as technically well equipped as the long-established services In Central Manchester? As underfunding is at the heart of the strategic plan, the answer is clear! DO.

Nos oat do she Central bospias sens be depriTEL ISE: CI! Mass Side is = at boorsteps. but the Estuffie of beds will mean at least 600 jobs lost (some estimates are up to 2,000), so aggravating the physical and mental problems that unemployment brings to families.

It's true that some consultants could move to new hospitals. But the ancillary and technical staff would largely be left behind. We've yet to hear from NUPE Region what would happen to staff who refused to be pushed miles away. Maybe we'd be issued with bikes.

But even with the medics all is nox well. They rightly object to teams of workers being broken up. Apart from the loss of prestige -important to consultants and administrators - the JSSC agrees that relocation does not mean a better all-round service.

Devious

Workers must see clearly that the Region is deviousiy trying to disguise the 2% cut in the NHS by buying off some Districts.

Many workers in the hospitals have been dangerously sceptical about these cuts. The JSSC has been refused permission to hold a mass meeting of staff to discuss the implications.

In fact, the administrators have not recognised the JSSC as a negotiating body of affiliated trades unions, preferring instead to maintain the 'Joint Management/Staff. Committee' - a Good Ship Lollipop packed with the so-called professional organisations like the RCN whose only contribution to the 1982 struggle was to scab. The affiliated unions have withdrawn from this farcical talking-shop.

We now hear that North and South Manchester Health Districts are faced with 175 and 301 bedclosures respectively. The total loss in Manchester would be equivalent to closing an entire District Hospital.

We are now seeing Tory national health policy in action. Unless health workers and comrades outside the NHS unite in resisting any such cuts, Fowler's axe will swing wide and deep.

The lessons we learned in 1982 must not be forgotten: We can win working class unity and resistance on the immediate issues of decimated patient care and job-losses - but for socialists there must be more than 'fire-fighting' At the core our unity must be centred on understanding the political nature of the cuts. The issues go deep into the debate about patients' and workers' control of health delivery, and the lack of accountabiilty of administrators and medics. Ultimately, workers must question the priorities and aims of NHS bureaucrats, governments, and the multinationals who pull the strings.

Immediate

On the immediate issue, we are making contact with local political and other pressure groups including Labour MPs. With or without management permission we must soon have a mass meeting. The Community Health Council has arranged a public meeting for February 10 in the Town Hall at 7.30pm.

I shall endeavour to keep SO readers fully informed about this fundamental fight. Messages of support to:

George McLean, Central District JSSC Secretary, c/o Pathology, St. Mary's Hospital, Manchester M13 OJH.

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