Health workers and NHS users joined a street protest in Manchester on 24th June 2006 regarding the Pennine Acute Trust crisis that threatens more than 1,200 NHS jobs.
NHS-not for sale
Rhythms of Resistance Manchester
The protest, led by the samba band Rhythms of Resistance Manchester, started at Victoria station and ended at Castlefield arena with a rally.
The job cuts threat is due to the current NHS debt, which is less than 1 percent of its total budget. If jobs are cut, patient care will suffer.
Protestors demanded that the government gives the money as it could easily afford it, rather than cut jobs which will have an impact on health services. Service users raised concerns regarding recent privatization policies concerning the NHS and demanded that the NHS remains public. Service users and health workers stated that the NHS is not for sale.
A protestor said “it is more than disappointing to see the government keen to spend money on war and killing people but not willing to give money to maintain NHS services. It is scary to realize how ‘human and life unfriendly’ this government is. We say ‘no to war; no to the privatization of the NHS, no to NHS job cuts!’ The government has messed up enough times-do not let it mess things up this time too!”
The job cuts threat is due to the current NHS debt, which is less than 1 percent of its total budget. If jobs are cut, patient care will suffer.
Protestors demanded that the government gives the money as it could easily afford it, rather than cut jobs which will have an impact on health services. Service users raised concerns regarding recent privatization policies concerning the NHS and demanded that the NHS remains public. Service users and health workers stated that the NHS is not for sale.
A protestor said “it is more than disappointing to see the government keen to spend money on war and killing people but not willing to give money to maintain NHS services. It is scary to realize how ‘human and life unfriendly’ this government is. We say ‘no to war; no to the privatization of the NHS, no to NHS job cuts!’ The government has messed up enough times-do not let it mess things up this time too!”
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