Notts Save Our Services – archived site
Defending jobs, services, welfare & education against cuts in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire
Information about specific cuts
Two Nottingham residents, a pensioner and a wheelchair user, have been charged with aggravated trespass. The pair, dubbed the “Atos Two” by supporters, were arrested following a peaceful protest of the examination cente of Atos “Healthcare” on Stoney Street on September 30th.
Full story and forthcoming events on Notts Indymedia: http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/2168
More on ATOS and benefits on Notts SOS: https://nottssos.org.uk/tag/benefits/
On Saturday 22 October 2011 hundreds of people gathered in Market Square, Nottingham, to listen to speeches and offer support to the many disabled people being ‘hardest hit’ by Government policies of cuts to services and welfare.
Full story and pictures: http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/2113
Occupy Nottingham also continues in the Market Square taking a stand against the causes and effects of the capitalist crisis, now in its 10th day having moved towards the square’s water feature: http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/2116
Join the resistance!!
At a packed public meeting on Thursday 22nd Sepember 2011 at the Mechanics Institute, North Sherwood Street, Nottingham, people heard about the progress of Andrew Lansley’s NHS Bill (having passed its 3rd reading and now going to the Lords). It’s all bad news of course. The meeting heard from speakers, Prof Wendy Savage [Keep our NHS Public], Barry Brown [Unite] & Gill George [Unite] laying out their concerns and all pointing out that this was all a device to dismantle the NHS and privatise many of its service.
Full report continues plus photos on Nottingham Indymedia: http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/2048
The meeting also heard that privatisation was already well under way, with a consortia including Richard Branson’s Virgin having taken over NHS services in Surrey under the name Assura Medical. One of the speakers gave an example of protest by Unite members where speech threapists had harangued Health Minister Andrew Lansley in Downing Street.
In Nottingham there are two significant meetings to do with the NHS next week:
NHS Nottingham City AGM and Annual Public Meeting, Wednesday 28th. September 12.00 to 15.00, Council House, Old Market Square.
Nottingham University Hospitals Annual Public Meeting, Wednesday 28th. September 17.00 to 19.30, Cityside Restaurant, City Hospital, Hucknall Road. The meeting is open to all. Free car parking will be available in the purple car park, which is the closest car park to the Cityside Restaurant. It takes place at the Cityside Restaurant at the City Hospital campus from 5pm-7.30pm.
A map of the City Hospital showing the location of the car park is available here: http://www.nuh.nhs.uk/patients-and-visitors/transport/city_maps.aspx (marked ‘P’ opposite the Purple entrance).
We are going to attend these meetings in order to point out that:
1. The reorganisation of the PCT being carried out by NHS Nottingham City is illegal because the legislation to authorise this action, the Health and Social Care Bill, has not yet been passed by Parliament.
2. The plan by Nottingham University Hospitals to become a foundation trust should be dropped.
We urge as many people as possible to attend these events. What is needed are effective actions to disrupt the “reforms”.
On Saturday 10th September 2011 at 12.30am Nottingham Un-cut protestors gathered outside the central library in Nottingham to start a day of action against tax avoiding companies. A nice report and great photos can be found here: http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/2038. Notts Uncut: http://www.nottsuncut.co.uk or email nottsuncutaction@gmail.com
The following day the Sunday Telegraph reported that one of the main high street tax avoiders Sir Philip Green – who put investment company Taveta, that acquired Arcadia Stores empire Burton, Top Shop etc., in his wifes name in 2002 so managing to avoid paying £285 million in tax in the UK – is now claiming that the occupation of the Fortnum & Mason store earlier this year by protesters against Government cuts encouraged this summer’s rioters and looters. Funny old world.
Action for ESOL statement on 28th August 2011 – English for Speakers of Other Languages
Government U-Turn: Victory for the Action For ESOL campaign!
The Skills Funding Agency has confirmed that full funding is available for ESOL and other adult courses formerly subject to the restrictive eligibility criteria that would have excluded up to 75% of adults on so called ‘inactive’ benefits. This represented a huge attack on adult education, and would have affected students from some of the poorest inner city communities. Action for ESOL was particularly concerned with the impact on non-native speakers of English who need English to support their children, find work, access education and play a full role in their communities. 250,000 adult places that were risk this year can be now be saved! This is an important victory for the Action for ESOL campaign.
Read more: http://www.natecla.org.uk/news_details.asp?NewsID=607
Action for ESOL: http://actionforesol.org
On Tuesday 6th September 2011 people gathered from 5.30pm in the Market Square, Nottingham to protest at the Health and Social Care Bill.
MPs vote on the Health and Social Care Bill this evening. A public meeting Save our NHS: Kill Lansley’s ‘amended’ Bill will be held in Nottingham on 22nd September. Find more photos on Nottingham Indymedia.
Highlighting the level of contempt for people receiving sickness and disability benefits, that has been cynically mounted by politicians and amplified by the media over the past few years, a medical examiner working for the private company ATOS Healthcare has been caught calling people they are assessing ‘the down and outs’ on Facebook, whilst an administrator called them ‘parasitic wankers’. ATOS Healthcare, a division of ATOS Origin, is operating under a multi-million pound private contract to the Dept. of Work and Pensions to carry out computerised face-to-face medical assessments of all people on disability benefits. This is a programme of harassment of claimants and those on essential disability allowances which can readily be identified as being part of a as an ideological attack on welfare provision by successive governments. This revelation follows news that twelve ATOS medics are under investigation by the General Medical Council for improper conduct.
ATOS Healthcare are not only involved with medical testing. They have also also dabbled with private running of NHS facilities, winning a bid from the Primary Care Trust to run a GP surgery in Tower Hamlets. But they had to leave the 10 year contract as they were not up the to job and due to considerable local protest. “Local doctors passed a motion of no confidence in Tower Hamlets PCT. Angry medics and patients, fearful of the potential impact of the privatisation of this part of the NHS, staged a protest march, and wrote to MPs and the PCT to complain about the decision.”
This is only one part of the stuggle against NHS privatisation which obviously needs to be linked to the attack on benefits as well. A meeting about NHS privatisation will take place in Nottingham on September 22nd. In Nottingham, ATOS Healthcare runs an examination centre on Stoney St. in Hockley/Lace Market.
New!: ATOS take legal action against Carerwatch and get their bulletin taken down. (temporarily we hope).
New: ATOS take legal action against Carerwatch and get their bulletin board taken down.
Notts Uncut have announced the following events relating to cuts to services amidst massive tax dodging by corporations like Vodafone, Boots and Arcadia group shops like Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins and Topshop, plus the banks that have been bailed out and are still paying massive bonuses. For more details of the companies concerned and the direct action being taken, visit http://www.nottsuncut.co.uk/
Campaigners from Nottinghamshire Save Our Service (Notts SOS) protested outside Virgin Media on Clumber Street, Nottingham on Saturday July 9th against government plans to open the NHS up to private companies.
The protest at Virgin followed a rally at Speakers’ Corner, Market Square, where Secretary of State Andrew Lansley was ‘put on trial’ for his role in promoting the Health and Social Care Bill, which campaigners fear will open the door to the privatisation of the NHS. Virgin Media was targeted because of a report which revealed that Assura Medical, part of Richard Branson’s Virgin Group was particularly well positioned to benefit from the Bill.
Full feature on Indymedia http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/1927Press release: http://nottingham.indymedia.org/articles/1917
Leaflet text: http://nottingham.indymedia.org/articles/1918
Photos/Audio of Lansley trial: http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/1921
Notts Uncut report on July 9th: HSBC occupied to save the NHS
The Clumber Street branch of HSBC in Nottingham was occupied for 2 hours this morning by Notts Uncutters. This was part of the day of action to save the NHS called for by Notts SOS. The protest targeted HSBC for its involvement in PFI contracts that drain tens of millions of pounds from the health system. Also, due to its offshore tax arrangements, HSBC only pays a tiny fraction of its profits in tax. Full report: http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/1916.
Photos of Virgin protest: http://nottingham.indymedia.org.uk/articles/1922
Poem sent to Notts SOS
Privatisation, a Step to Far
The New Pork Farms
Geriatric Medical Centre
Don’t sound up to much!
Fancy using a pig’s
trotter to replace
A sawn-off owd foot
(not far from the truth either … although this was about Samworth Academy school).
Date for diary
Sicko by Michael Moore
Friday 14th October 2011
Paradiso Cinema at Chilwell Arts Theatre
The film investigates health care in the USA where illness can easily lead to bancruptcy (and worse) due to the greed of the health insurance business and pharmaceutical industry. The film compares the for-profit, non-universal U.S. system with the non-profit universal health care systems of the UK (now under threat) and other countries such as Cuba and Canada.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFkoX5l_4lU
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Please come yourself and urge all your contacts to participate in these Save Our NHS events that will take place in Nottingham and Notts on Tuesday 5th July and Saturday 9th July. The government’s Health and Social Care Bill aims to open up the NHS to ‘any willing provider’. If passed, this Bill will fundamentally change the way our healthcare is managed and paid for in England, and it will result in vast inequalities. Opposition to the bill is already strong. The British Medical Association (BMA) of doctors have called for the bill to be withdrawn despite recent amendments, saying it will not protect the NHS. As users of the NHS we must also make our opposition known.
NOTTS SOS planning meeting: July 4th (Monday): Nottingham. ICC/YMCA, 7.30-9.00pm. Come and get involved with planning these events, and other anti-cuts activity.
NHS ANNIVERSARY EVENT: July 5th (Tuesday): Nottingham. Protest against privatisation of the NHS from 4.00 pm to 7.00 pm at the London Road ‘BBC’ roundabout and help publicise the main city centre rally on Saturday. If some people could get there earlier at 3.15 pm this would be helpful as there are a lot of banners and placards to be erected.
NHS ANNIVERSARY EVENT: July 5th (Tuesday): North Notts. Come to the NHS’s 63rd Birthday Party on Tuesday 5th July at Bassetlaw Hospital, 11.00 am—2.30 pm. Meet near Blyth Road bus stop. Bring a balloon! Download flyer. See also Worksop Guardian coverage of local NHS listening event on May 27th.
SAVE OUR NHS MAIN RALLY: July 9th (Saturday): Nottingham. As part of the national day of action in defence of the NHS, Notts SOS will be rallying in the Market Square in Nottingham. We will rally at the Brian Clough Statue from 12 noon, followed by various activities around the city centre. Read press release. See Indymedia event for full details and list of supporters. Come and join this important event that will be happening across the country in many other towns and villages. Add your name to growing list of Facebook event participants.
NOTTS UNCUT SUPPORT ACTION: July 9th (Saturday): Nottingham. Notts Uncut are planning a very special action to support Notts SOS’s NHS day of action. We will be meeting outside Boots (Victoria Centre, Parliament St.) at 10am and then moving on to a secret target, however we need people to be around for this throughout the day. If you can turn up at 10am – brilliant, and the longer you can stay the better. If you aren’t available until later in the day please call us after 10am on 07856565214 and we’ll tell you where to meet us. Bring your nurses outfits, doctors coats, banners, placards and lots of energy! More info: http://nottingham.indymedia.org/events/1898.
Press Release: Campaigners celebrate NHS 63rd Birthday
Campaigners in Nottinghamshire will celebrate the 63rd birthday of the founding of the National Health Service (NHS) on Tuesday 5th July 2011, by holding protests warning of the threat it faces from the coalition government.
In Nottingham, Nottinghamshire Save Our Services (Notts SOS) will take over the London Road roundabout from 4pm-7pm. They plan to use the event to warn of the threat to the NHS and also to publicise a larger rally in Market Square at 12 noon on Saturday 9th July.
In the north of the county, campaigners from Bassetlaw Protecting our People and Services and Bassetlaw Save Our Services will hold a “birthday party” outside Bassetlaw Hospital from 11am-2pm.
The protests are an opportunity to celebrate the NHS and everything it has achieved, but are also an opportunity to warn people about the danger posed by the Health and Social Care Bill, currently going through Parliament.
Campaigners warn that despite the ‘listening exercise’ and government spin, the Bill still leaves the door open for private companies to take over the NHS.
Barry Donlan from Bassetlaw said, “Our NHS isn’t broken. So we don’t need to fix it. It has higher satisfaction levels and better outcomes than inefficient and unfair systems like the USA. At a time of supposed austerity, to spend £1.7 billion on restructuring the NHS and replacing it with an untried system seems the height of folly.”
Harry Powell from Notts SOS said, “The ‘pause’ to allow the government to listen’ has been followed by some changes and an extensive PR campaign. But we should not be fooled. The ‘reforms’ are still a very real threat to the NHS and there remains a pressing need to kill the Bill.”
Notes for editors
1.Notts SOS will also be holding a rally at Speakers’ Corner (the Clough Statue) in Nottingham from 12 noon on Saturday 9th July. This will be followed by various activities around the city centre. These protests form part of a “day of action to save our NHS”.
Previous action in May: Notts Rejects Plans For NHS and Emergency Operation. See also: http://nottingham.indymedia.org/groups/notts-save-our-services
Watch Colin Leys’ presentation to Notts SOS, author of ‘The Plot Against the NHS’
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