Unions to protest 'cuts' to Glasgow's health and social care sector

Trade unions will gather in Glasgow this lunchtime to protest against expected 'cuts' in the city's Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP).

Unison, GMB and Unite will rally outside of Commonwealth House on Albion Street, before the Integrated Joint Board (IJB) meets tomorrow.

Unions say that funding has been reduced by Glasgow City Council and the NHS, meaning the Glasgow Health and Social Care Partnership is likely to implement more than £36m in cuts.

There are fears that NHS and social care jobs will be at risk and that there will be a significant delay in recruitment for other posts.

The trade unions are demanding that the eight Glasgow City Councillors and eight NHS Health Board members with voting rights on the IJB refuse to pass these cuts.

'Catastrophic'

Stuart Graham, Unison social work convener, said: "The consequences of last year’s cuts are still reverberating around services delivered by Glasgow HSCP.

"Cutting a further £36m from the NHS and social care budget will be nothing short of catastrophic.

"Our political representatives should stand up and fight for more money for Glasgow, instead of administering more cuts passed down by various tiers of government.

"Glasgow needs more workers, not less!

"The overwhelming majority accepts that the NHS and local government are underfunded, yet no one is prepared to take a stand to do anything about it.

"On top of this, Glasgow’s funding allocation does not recognise its metropolitan status or its high levels of poverty. This city deserves better”.

Assistant branch secretary of Unsion, Margaret McCarthy, said: "Cuts to NHS and social care posts will impact on all aspects of the NHS, Acute, A&E and delayed discharges, meaning patient can't be admitted to hospital for the vital treatment they need.

"NHS staff are already exhausted, the NHS has been running on goodwill and that goodwill has run out."

'Bleak irony'

John Slaven, the GMB 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.”

Glasgow HSCP response

A spokeswoman for Glasgow’s Health and Social Care Partnership said: “Glasgow City IJB faces the same financial challenges that the public sector across Scotland face and is working hard with our range of stakeholders to manage and address these challenges.

"The IJB will meet this week to agree and set the budget for 2024/25.”

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