University Hospitals Birmingham UNISON

On March the 26th thousands of people, public sector workers and those who rely on public services, will be mraching through the streets of London.

UHB UNISON are working with our friends in UNISON at the Women's Hospital to send people in coaches, and we want you to be one of them.

Recent news that UHB is facing proposed cuts of £22million next years alone gives us all a reason to take our message to the Government that we don't need cuts and austerity, we need investment funded by the rich and the bankers that caused the crisis in the first place.

The day promises to be a fun family day, with lots of bright UNISON attire and noisy things for you to make an impact and get heard.

All you have to do is contact James Anthony for a place on our coach, bring your friends and family too!

For more details on the event (including hints and tips for the day) visit the national website

UHB UNISON Branch has discovered plans South Birmingham PCT to cut funding to University Hospitals Birmingham by £22,468,000, a massive 17% cut in the funding from the PCT.  Using the Freedom of Information Act the Branch found that Elective surgery (which could mean planned heart, kidney, liver and spinal operations) are being cut with plans to reduce admissions by 3,000. In addition, follow up on outpatients, are to be cut from 125,000 in 2010/11 to 88,000 in 2011/12.

James Anthony, Branch Chair stated: "The Government should come clean and admit that their demands for £20bn in so called efficiency savings is damaging patient care across the country, and is only made worse by a costly and unnecessary reorganisation. People in Birmingham need a health service that is financially fit to respond to their medical problems.

"These Government cuts put the Trust between a rock and a hard place. They are being told to save money, but they have a duty to ensure quality patient care.”

"Local staff want to know why this hospital is being hit so hard? Surely with new state of the art facilities it makes no sense not to be utilising it fully"

The Branch contacted local Edgbaston MP Gisela Stuart, who has said, “David Cameron promised voters that the NHS would be protected from cuts. We now know that this is not true. His unnecessary and costly re-organisation together with the cuts to hospital budgets threaten to undo all the good work of the previous labour government. This is bad news for patients and staff in the QE and bad news for Birmingham”

Gisela is hoping to raise the issue in Parliament and has already brought the matter to the attention of John Healey, the Shadow Health Secretary. He commented today, "David Cameron's reckless overhaul of the health service is not what people expected when he pledged to protect the NHS. We all remember the airbrushed posters, but the reality is that the NHS is his biggest broken promise to date."

With these raw figures it is impossible to know what this might mean for staff, but UNISON will stick up for staff to make sure we do not shoulder the burden for the banker’s crisis and for the Tory’s expensive reforms. We are ready to work in Partnership with the trust to protect staff and the services we provide to the public.