Unions step up fight over NHS cuts

Last month’s closure of a heart ward at Castle Hill Hospital in Cottingham, near Hull, sparked warnings from a group of cardiologists and cardiothoracic surgeons that the city could lose its status as a regional centre for cardiology.

The trust, which runs Castle Hill and Hull Royal Infirmary, is in the second year of cutbacks and needs to save £25m this year. Representatives from Unison will be in Queen Victoria Square, Hull, until 3pm today.

Area organiser Karen Towner said: “The Government has a definite plan to dispose of the NHS by using cuts, closures and redundancies to destroy what’s left of the health services. In Hull alone £95m has to be saved from its budget. This involves the closure of 10 wards over the next four years leading to a reduction of 30 per cent of its capacity. I will never be convinced that you can take that much out of the NHS and still provide an adequate service.”

The hospital defended the move claiming many beds were used by non-cardiology patients, and all patients would now be treated in its state-of-the-art cardiac centre.