Belper hospital threatened

Save our NHS, photo Paul Mattsson, photo Paul Mattsson (Click to enlarge)

Campaigners to save threatened Babington Hospital protested on 23 February at an NHS clinical commissioning group meeting in Derby.

The hospital in Belper, Derbyshire, provides a number of services such as blood tests, a baby clinic, specialist scans and 18 beds for rehabilitation, palliative and end-of-life care.

The clinical commissioning group claims that all services will be provided in a new facility in Belper but the 18 beds will not be retained and the projected cost of the new build may well exceed the projected budget, nobody will tell us the amount.

There has been no full, open and public consultation over hospital closures and the loss of nursed beds.

We can't trust NHS managers to retain our services. Campaigners must continue to put pressure on and build the campaign.

The recent victories by campaigns that saved Glenfield heart unit in Leicester and Chatsworth ward in Mansfield show that if you fight, you can win.

Charlie Taylor, Derby Socialist Party

Donate to the Socialist Party

Finance appeal

The coronavirus crisis has laid bare the class character of society in numerous ways. It is making clear to many that it is the working class that keeps society running, not the CEOs of major corporations.

The results of austerity have been graphically demonstrated as public services strain to cope with the crisis.

The government has now ripped up its 'austerity' mantra and turned to policies that not long ago were denounced as socialist. But after the corona crisis, it will try to make the working class pay for it, by trying to claw back what has been given.

The Socialist Party's material is more vital than ever, so we can continue to report from workers who are fighting for better health and safety measures, against layoffs, for adequate staffing levels, etc.
When the health crisis subsides, we must be ready for the stormy events ahead and the need to arm workers' movements with a socialist programme - one which puts the health and needs of humanity before the profits of a few.

Inevitably, during the crisis we have not been able to sell the Socialist and raise funds in the ways we normally would.

We therefore urgently appeal to all our viewers to click here to donate to our Fighting Fund.