Category Archives: Social fairness

Hebden Bridge says No to Big Bad Treaty that would end the NHS

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By mid afternoon on Saturday 30th August, over a hundred Hebden Bridge residents and visitors had signed the 38 Degrees Petition to Stop the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Deal at a stall in St George’s Square.

If the government signs up to the Treaty, this will effectively end the NHS, by opening it up to international trade laws that give private health care corporations more power than governments.

The NHS is already being damaged by cuts and privatisation. This process would accelerate, irreversibly, if the government signs up to TTIP.

Continue reading →

#Calderdale Council Health Scrutiny Panel in private unscheduled meeting this evening

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In response to a question from Plain Speaker, the Chair of Calderdale Council’s Adults Health and Social Care Scrutiny Panel has confirmed that the Panel is to hold a private meeting on Monday 1st September at 6pm in Halifax Town Hall.

The meeting is not on the official Council calendar, nor on the printed sheet which was issued on 28 August listing amendments to committees for the period 1 September to 1 October.

Neither the Council’s Democratic Services Manager, other Councillors who are not on the Scrutiny Panel, nor the public had been told about it. Continue reading →

Calderdale Council Scrutiny Panel steps up to a democratic investigation of NHS shake up plans

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We have some good news, thanks to the 118 members of the public who signed Plain Speaker’s petition to the Scrutiny Panel, to the Scrutiny Panel themselves, and to Calderdale 38 Degrees NHS Campaign Group, Calderdale Trades Council and other members of the public who lobbied the Scrutiny Panel meetings. Continue reading →

Public will have no say in #Calderdale NHS and social care shake up, if NHS chiefs get their way

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In a dramatic move, Calderdale’s NHS Commissioners have decided to shelve public consultation on the proposed NHS shake up.

At a meeting on 14th August, they batted aside a letter from Councillor Malcolm James, Chair of Calderdale Council’s Adults Health and Social Care Scrutiny Panel, that asked Calderdale’s NHS Commissioners not to make any decisions about community health services that have not been subject to sufficient consultation with the public, or that lead to significant service variations and changes.

Now both Huddersfield and Calderdale NHS Commissioners intend to go ahead with all the community care service changes proposed in the Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS  shake-up plans, without any public consultation. Continue reading →

Walk for the NHS on August 22nd and 23rd – Used by us, Owned by us, Loved by us. Now the NHS can only be saved by us.

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Only Clowns Would Close Our A&Es, is the message from members of the public who are Walking for the NHS from Calderdale Royal Hospital to Pinderfields Hospital, via Huddersfield Royal Infirmary and Dewsbury District Hospital on 22nd and 23rd August.

The aim of Walk for the NHS is to make all 3 NHS Trust Chiefs aware that the public will not accept any downgrading of services, loss of services or back door privatisation of our NHS.

Let alone their intention of preventing any public consultation on plans to shake up the NHS in Calderdale.

Walk for the NHS will join up with the national Call 999 for the NHS People’s March when both groups arrive at Pinderfields hospital at 3.30pm on Saturday 23rd August.

Everyone is welcome to join some or all of the Walk for the NHS feeder march on any of the stages. Continue reading →

(Non) answers to public questions to #Calderdale NHS commissioners Governing Body meeting 14th August

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These are Plain Speaker’s and Calderdale 38 Degrees NHS Campaign Group’s questions to the Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group Governing Body meeting on 14th August – updated with the answers. Continue reading →

I’ve asked #Calderdale Council health and social care scrutiny panel to ignore Scrutiny Officer’s advice to refuse to act on Save our A&Es petition

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Here is my email, please consider sending one of your own before the Scrutiny Panel meeting at 6pm today, Halifax Town Hall. If you can join our lobby at 5.30pm that would be brilliant too.

(You will see two SP members have gone and new ones come in, as a result of the recent Tory/LibDem Council coup. It is now entirely blokes.) Continue reading →

#Calderdale Council Scrutiny Officer takes Save our A&Es campaigners for mushrooms

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Today (12th August) Calderdale Council Adults Health and Social Care Scrutiny Panel (SP) will decide how to respond to the public petition that calls on the SP to:

  • Hold a formal enquiry into Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS providers’ proposals to close / downgrade one or both A&E departments in Halifax and Huddersfield and the associated NHS and social care reconfiguration proposals (“Right Care Right Time Right Place”)
  • Call in all 5 local NHS organisations to explain their proposals, their evidence base and how public, community groups’ and staff views have been sought, documented and used
  • Invite the public to take part and state their views

The Scrutiny Officer’s advice is that the SP should pass the buck to the so-called People’s Commission and refuse to act on the petition. Continue reading →

Support for #Calderdale Save Our A&Es campaign from Green Party Leader Natalie Bennett

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Green Party leader Natalie Bennett recently visited the Upper Calder Valley and gave her support to the Calderdale and Huddersfield Save our A&Es campaign.

Natalie Bennett told Calderdale Green Party members that similar cuts in London were having a negative effect on services.

Calderdale Green Party is active in the campaign to keep both A&Es open, in the face of NHS Chiefs’ proposals to close one or both A&Es. Continue reading →

Calderdale NHS Commissioners plan to scrap public consultation on proposed A&E cuts and new community care system

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Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS commissioners are to ask their Governing Bodies for permission to shelve the scheduled public consultation on the so-called “Right Care Right Time Right Place” NHS shakeup.

This shakeup includes the likely closure of Calderdale Royal Hospital A&E and at least 360 of its 450 beds.

Overall, at least 200 acute hospital beds across both CRH and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary would be cut and replaced with a new system of care in the community that is based on the model used by the American private health care company Kaiser Permanente. Continue reading →