Glasgow care and health services could be cut "tomorrow"

Protesters have rallied in the city today after fearing NHS funding will be slashed by Glasgow City Council.

Unison, GMB, and Unite held a lunchtime demonstration outside Commonwealth House where Glasgow's Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) will meet on Wednesday, March 20.

The union believes if cuts are passed it will cost hundreds of NHS and care roles in the future which will cost the city more money long term.

Meanwhile health care workers warned it would “affect every Glaswegian for years to come.”

Protesters rallied in the city (Image: Sourced)

Now, the unions are demanding that Glasgow City Councillors and NHS Health Board members with voting rights on the Integrated Joint Board refuse to pass the cuts.

A health service worker spoke to protesters outside Commonwealth House and said: “If these cuts are voted through tomorrow, there is no doubt they will affect every Glaswegian for years to come.

“They will affect your children, your grandchild, and they will affect your parents.

“We will see cuts to health visiting and children dental services which will impact young people for generations.

“There will be cuts in GP treatment rooms and there will be cuts to district nurses, along with rehabilitation services which will affect people needing treatment."

Protesters demanded the cuts do not pass (Image: Sourced)

She added: “As you struggle to hold down a full time job and look after your children, you will also be juggling the care of your parents and grandparents.

“There will be no public services if these cuts are voted through tomorrow.

“We won't just lose our NHS jobs but we will see diminished health services, this won't stop demand, it will make it higher because people won't get the treatment they need.

“This means staff will leave, they already are leaving now but they will leave in even higher numbers.

“Don’t be in any doubt, your NHS is under threat.”

The demonstation was held in the city (Image: Sourced)

John Slaven, the union’s organiser at Glasgow City Council, said the pressure on spending and proposed reductions in the workforce would be felt most in the city’s poorest postcodes.

He said: “We are talking about the loss of experienced, skilled staff supporting people who need vital care and support.

“They might be ill, infirm or homeless but need help and these brutal cuts are cutting away the safety nets.

“It is a bleak irony that, in the long run, these cuts will cost money not save it because there will only be more drugs deaths, more people made homeless, more elderly admitted to hospital rather than being cared for at home.

“And more committed but exhausted workers made stressed and sick by impossible workloads.

“The Scottish Government has done enough talking about how tackling poverty is its priority but needs to start acting like it and properly supporting these lifeline services.

“Meanwhile, the message to the people of Glasgow is simple: don’t be homeless, don’t be a child at risk; don’t need social care; don’t be vulnerable; don’t be poor.”