David Cameron begins to privatise maternity services, starting in NHS Wirral
07 Dec 2011
Diane Abbott, Labour’s Shadow Public Health Minister, blasts Andrew Lansley as the government begins to privatise maternity services, starting in NHS Wirral:
‘This long-term privatisation project may well end up marginalising our NHS maternity services, and draining them of resources. It is incredible that having directly promised an extra 3000 midwives before the election, what we now see from this government is NHS maternity services being sidelined and privatised, thousands of clinical posts such as nurses and midwives being axed, and the NHS budget being cut in real terms.
‘This will be really disheartening for women and families across the country. It’s a bleak, long-term picture. Andrew Lansley needs to accept that the NHS is not for sale, and maternity services are not for sale.
Ms Abbott added:
‘The Government have also been silent on its commitment to Maternity Matters, the flagship policy on maternity services launched by the previous Government in April 2007.
‘As with so many other policies, it shows that this is a government that was elected on the rhetoric of opposition, but is now being found out by the realities of government.’
--ENDS—
1) Before the election, David Cameron told the Sun newspaper, “we will increase the number of midwives by 3,000”. (David Cameron, The Sun, 21 January 2010)
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