Coastal View & Moor News Issue 17
7
Fear over future of local hospitals after indebted NHS trust is privatised
T Cllrs Quigley and Learoyd
he future of two Tees NHS trusts has been brought into question following the news that local trusts are in the red by £134M due to government austerity measures. It’s understood that James Cook Hospital in Middlesbrough has to find £69M of savings from a turnover of £200M over the next three years. While North Tees NHS trust needs to save £40M, and Tees Esk and Wear Valley mental health trust £25M. To compound the situation, James Cook Hospital also has a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) bill of around £1bn. In the first week in November the Coalition government privatised Hichingbrooke Hospital in Cambridgeshire, a hospital with a £90M turnover but £36M worth of
All aboard the Local Link service A
bus service linking communities across Redcar & Cleveland welcomed its 5,000 th passenger on board yesterday – only a month after it hit the road.
The low-floor buses operate hourly through more than 20 towns and villages on six evenings a week, from Monday to Saturday.
The vehicles run through Redcar, Marske, Saltburn, Brotton, Carlin How, Loftus, Liverton Mines, North Skelton, New Skelton, Skelton, Skelton Green, Boosbeck, Lingdale, Margrove Park, Charltons, Slapewath, Guisborough, including an extension into Hutton Village, Dunsdale, Yearby and Kirkleatham Village. The Council has also recently stepped in to provide the Guisborough Town Service in order to support this popular service after the existing contractor pulled out. Councillor Helen McLukie, Cabinet Member for Highways, Transportation and Planning, said:
“This new service has been launched in the middle of a challenging economic climate and it is reassuring to see that it is being
well used by the public.
The Council is committed to preserving local transport where it can in order to maintain links between our communities and offer access to local facilities.” Anyone wanting to find out more about the service, including timetables and fares, should telephone 01642 444973 or view the route map and timetable at
www.redcar-
cleveland.gov.uk
debt. The move to hand over the Cambridge hospital to the Circle group, a business that is 51% owned by private investors, is thought to be the first of 20 NHS hospital private takeovers. The news has caused a wave of concern among local politicians that northern hospitals heavily affected by cuts could face the same fate. Redcar and Cleveland’s health lead, Labour and Co-operative Councillor Dr Tristan Learoyd, told Coastal View he had concerns over the government’s “zeal for privatisation”. “The private takeover of the Cambridge hospital is being promoted as a workers co-op, it is not. It is a company that is majority owned by private interests that looking to make money. It will surprise nobody that two of the main shareholders are Conservative Party donors and a Tory MP is a paid advisor for the company.” On James Cook’s eye watering PFI bill Cllr
Learoyd said “we’ve had PFIs under three governments, and those schemes highlight what private interests do to the NHS. If the taxpayer had paid for James Cook Hospital outright it would have cost £127M, under the PFI it’s costing the taxpayer over £1bn. If the superrich paid their tax bills and governments didn’t pander to their financial interests, we wouldn’t be having this discussion. It’s always local people who lose out.”
Cllr Dale Quigley, a member of health scrutiny at the council said “in the long run private companies will make savings by sacking doctors and nurses and prioritising those who can afford to pay. Our priority is to ensure patients come before profit. We remain confident that our NHS trusts will survive the vicious cycle of cuts and will continue to provide excellent care.”
Save Our Strays
26/11/11 is our Fun Christmas Dog Show at St.Hilda’s Church, Redcar from 1.00 ‘til 4.00 There will be various stalls and a gift for every dog from Santa. 2/12/11 we are having a Christmas Bingo Night at Margrove Park village hall commencing 7.30pm. 3/12/11 we are holding a coffee morning at Sunnyfield House, Guisborough 9 ‘til12.30. There will be cake stall, books, bric-a-brac & tombola.
Cllrs McLuckie, Dunning and Clarke
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