Hospitals crisis will be hot topic at public meeting

 

 

 

 

The crisis at Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust will be amongst subjects raised at a large public meeting which has been organised for tomorrow evening (Friday 20th February) at Penwith College, convened by Health Select Committee Member and West Cornwall MP, Andrew George.  Following the announcement of a “black alert” at Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, interest in the NHS public meeting has ballooned.

Since 2006, nearly half of the nation’s acute hospital beds have been cut, leading to a lack of flexibility during busy times for the health service.  In addition to the recent outsourcing of hotel services at RCHT, there is now pressure on the Trust to privatise pathology services.

Mr George said, “We are grateful to our fantastic frontline doctors, nurses and other health workers who I know will, as usual, go the extra mile to get on top of the crisis not of their making. We cannot resolve problems like these without such dedicated and highly professional NHS staff.

“Our NHS hospitals will always be on the verge of crisis if they continue to be preyed upon by a private sector which is given every opportunity to do and to compete for the easy and profitable work but has no responsibility to manage the most challenging and complex tasks which the NHS is responsible for dealing with.

“Many constituents and NHS staff have contacted me with concerns they wish to discuss at the public meeting on 20^th February, including the current “black alert”; the future of community hospitals such as Poltair; Mitie’s contract for hotel services at RCHT; future funding of the NHS in Cornwall; the pay and conditions for NHS staff; and the need to put patients before profit in an NHS more open to markets pressures.  It is set to be an interesting evening.”