Get on board — save our NHS

Unite Community West London members will get aboard the ‘Save Our NHS’ open top bus on Saturday (February 11) as part of their campaign to expose the threat posed by the government’s secretive NHS sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) on local health services.

The chartered Unite Community open top red bus will set off from the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Southall on a ‘whistle stop’ tour of all six west London hospitals, including Ealing, Northwick Park, Central Middlesex, Charing Cross and West Middlesex.

The tour sets off at 10.30am on Saturday, February 11 with the first pick up point at Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, 2-8 Park Avenue, Southall, UB1 3AG.

Unite has warned, that the 44 secretive, sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) in England, could lead to closures or relocations of local hospitals and accident and emergency departments.

The bus tour, which is supported by Unite Community London, Save Our Hospitals Charing Cross, Save Our NHS Ealing, Keep Our NHS Public London, Ealing Hospital Community action group, and local MPs and councillors, comes ahead of Ealing Council’s public meeting on Wednesday 15 February about what the NHS shake-up means for local residents.

Local residents are urged to get aboard the ‘Save our NHS’ bus for a fun-packed day with a serious message. Unite Community members will be handing out leaflets to the public and making some noise to ‘save our NHS’.

“Our NHS faces another wave of drastic cuts, privatisation and reorganisation that will have a massive impact on everyone, unless we come together to fight them,” said Unite West London Community branch chair Raj Gill.

“This mega reorganisation of the NHS is driven by funding cuts, not evidence,” he added. “The government’s NHS sustainability and transformation plans (STPs) are a serious threat to services and could mean local patients and their families needing to travel many miles for treatment.

“With the Unite Community bus tour we will be taking our fight to save our NHS into the local community. We need to raise public awareness about the STP threat before it’s too late.

“Local residents are urged to come along and get aboard the bus for a fun-packed day with a serious message,” Gill went on to say. “There will be lots of music, flag waving and leafleting sessions to let the public know about the risk to their NHS services.”

Local MPs and councillors supporting the bus tour include; Varindra Sharma MP for Ealing, Southall, Ealing Central and Acton MP, Rupa Huq MP and Andy Slaughter MP for Hammersmith.  John McDonnell Labour Shadow Chancellor has also given his support.

Ealing Council leader Julian Bell and Hammersmith & Fulham Council leader Stephen Cowen as well as London Assembly members Dr Onkar Sahota and Navin Shah are also backing the bus.