Green County Councillors will be pushing for the County Council to resist cuts in the National Health Service throughout Oxfordshire. They will be supporting the Keep Our NHS Public picket of County Hall from about 9.00am on Tuesday 13th December. The County Council will be debating a motion on the cuts facing the NHS in Oxfordshire.
David Williams, Leader of the Green Group on the County Council, explains:
The Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) for the NHS in our area envisages a massive cut of £200 million in NHS spending in Oxfordshire by 2020. We are concerned about the implications for Adult Social Care in the County, and the likelihood that cuts would force the closure of Community Hospitals and other services. We are urging the Leader of the County Council to write to the Secretary of State for Health asking him how our very fragile NHS is expected to cope with demand in the future.
David Williams explains:
Oxfordshire has a growing and an ageing population. We need more health spending to combat staff shortages, the collapse of Adult Social Care spending, the gradual reduction in GP’s surgeries in the County, and financial pressures on pharmacies. In short, we need all other political parties to resist the continuing austerity measures in the NHS, committing to at least a 4% in spending each year as a first step to a realistic level of NHS spending.
David Williams notes:
Cuts in services place GP surgeries and A&E under more pressure. Why have the NHS workforce, the public and politicians have not been involved in shaping the plans? We know from experience that partial privatization of NHS services just makes them cost more and does nothing to reduce waiting times for procedures for those who cannot pay for expensive private treatment.
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