Are forced to use torches at night to look after patients FOR OUR
happening to us locally when I was working in A&E.”
Richard Burden, a psychiatric nurse from Worcester, said he had just been involved in consultations where 25 posts have been lost.
He said: “We are fighting to stay in the black all the time. Since the Tories have been in power we have lost 15,000 mental health posts. We know 50 per cent of the nursing workforce is due to retire by 2020 and most will.
“And without the nursing bursaries, we are going to see an even bigger problem than we already have.”
Felix Ramos, 53, of Hackney, East London, stood next to a coffin on the march. He said: “Many people are not going to get the help they need. If you do not have health, there is no life.
“Privatisation does not work for life. It is not going to care for the vulnerable but it might care for people who can afford special treatment. It is not for the majority.”
Desperate
Dr David Wrigley, a GP from Carnforth, Lancs, and deputy chair of the BMA council, was among the frontline staff marching under the slogan: “Our NHS, No Cuts, No Closures, No Privatisation.”
He said: “Today’s march is a cry for help for anyone who uses the NHS because it is in such a desperate situation. We need to highlight it.
“As a doctor, I see day to day the serious pressures in the NHS due to the funding cuts from the Government. Patients are not getting the care they deserve. We are a country that can afford the funding that is required.”
Len McCluskey, general secretary of Unite, tweeted: “What an unbelievable demonstration we have been on here – 250,000 people from all over our nation fighting to save our NHS.”
The campaigners hope the march will put pressure on the Government ahead of next week’s Budget.
Rehana Azam, GMB National Secretary, said: “Public servants perform a vital role in our society.
“It’s the nurses, paramedics, midwives, 999 call handlers and porters, alongside the teaching assistants and council workers, who are on the front line every day. They’ve had thousands of pounds pinched already and are facing further attacks to their wages.
“It’s time to give public sector workers the real pay rise that they deserve – the pinch needs to end now.”