Pledge breakers
THESE LOCAL POLITICIANS SAY THEY SUPPORT OUR PLEDGE BUT THEIR ACTIONS SAY OTHERWISE
Cllr Jason Kitcat, (Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council) went ahead with putting award-winning local drug and alchohol services out to tender and risked full-scale privatisation; then despite being petitioned by the local NHS team he supported the contract lead being awarded to a voluntary organisation in Surrey.
Cllr Sue Shanks (Withdean) similarly saw no problem with this move, and along with, Cllr Ian Davey (St Peters and North Laine) and Cllr Ollie Sykes (Brunswick & Adelaide), did not actively oppose the privatisation of the Integrated Community Equipment Store (ICES), despite attempts by Unison and the GMB to find an alternative.
We expected these Green Party councillors to really fight to put into practice their party policies on the NHS, even if that meant taking on the local Clinical Commissioning Group over ICES. But now SMS (Substance Misuse Services) are being taken over by a third sector social enterprise in Surrey; and ICES is being taken over by a private company, based in Nottinghamshire. In both cases NHS workers face transfer to non-NHS providers, and face immediate threats to their pay, pensions, terms and conditions. In all likelihood there’ll be a reduction in qualified staff so it will be bad news for the services as well as the workers.
That’s why, with reluctance, we cannot currently accept the signatures of these politicians for our Pledge to Save the NHS. Of course, we hope their future actions will change this situation.
Cllr Jason Kitcat, (Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council) went ahead with putting award-winning local drug and alchohol services out to tender and risked full-scale privatisation; then despite being petitioned by the local NHS team he supported the contract lead being awarded to a voluntary organisation in Surrey.
Cllr Sue Shanks (Withdean) similarly saw no problem with this move, and along with, Cllr Ian Davey (St Peters and North Laine) and Cllr Ollie Sykes (Brunswick & Adelaide), did not actively oppose the privatisation of the Integrated Community Equipment Store (ICES), despite attempts by Unison and the GMB to find an alternative.
We expected these Green Party councillors to really fight to put into practice their party policies on the NHS, even if that meant taking on the local Clinical Commissioning Group over ICES. But now SMS (Substance Misuse Services) are being taken over by a third sector social enterprise in Surrey; and ICES is being taken over by a private company, based in Nottinghamshire. In both cases NHS workers face transfer to non-NHS providers, and face immediate threats to their pay, pensions, terms and conditions. In all likelihood there’ll be a reduction in qualified staff so it will be bad news for the services as well as the workers.
That’s why, with reluctance, we cannot currently accept the signatures of these politicians for our Pledge to Save the NHS. Of course, we hope their future actions will change this situation.
