Press Release

TRADE UNIONS CALL FOR BETTER C-19 PROTECTION FOR WHIPPS CROSS HOSPITAL STAFF & CARE HOME WORKERS

With the news of increasing numbers of c-19 infections and deaths in east London combined with the continuing reports of the failure to provide workers with suitable personal protective equipment (PPE) and training, trade unions in Waltham Forest have set up an on-line petition calling for swifter action to protect workers and patients lives.

Linda Taaffe, Secretary, Waltham Forest Trade Union Council, said:

We should not be expecting those front line workers who care for and aid recovery of the elderly, unwell and dying to have to risk their lives any more to deliver that care. The need for PPE, testing equipment and training must be fully met NOW and when we come out of the other side of this pandemic there must be a thorough and frank review of how we got into this position in the first place and act to prevent it ever happening again.

… Read on ...

The PFI Scandal

“All trust debts should be wiped clean by the Treasury, and contracts renegotiated and brought back into public ownership on grounds of poor value. The premise of PFI that the private sector is more efficient in delivering and managing infrastructure projects has repeatedly been shown to be false,”
Dr John Puntis, retired paediatrician, co-chair of Keep Our NHS Public

The Barts Trust is deeply in debt and sinking deeper, with projected deficits for 2014-15 rocketing upwards from £43m at the end of December to £93m, according to its February board papers – or even as much as £100 million, according to the Health Service Journal

The financial problem has been a ticking time-bomb beneath the surface ever since the then Bart’s and the London Hospital Trust was given the go-ahead in 2006 to sign up for the costly £1.1 billion scheme to redevelop both Bart’s and the Royal London, financed under the ruinously expensive Private Finance Initiative (PFI).… Read on ...