NHS Services

Horsham Labour Party cares passionately about our NHS and we do not wish to stand idly by as the Tory led Coalition Government pushes through a series of changes that could fundamentally alter all that we feel is good about our NHS.
 
We support 100% the principal that the NHS is free at point of use.
 
We oppose the increased role of the private sector and are in favour of public services being delivered predominantly by those working within the public sector.
 
We  support the principal that health care professionals should deliver healthcare and managers should manage.
 
The letter printed in full below has recently been sent to all local Practise Managers and we will update this page as and when we receive responses from them.
 
Please sign Labour's petition to protect front line services:
 
 
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Dear Practice Manager,

At a recent meeting of the Horsham Labour Party the members discussed the contents of the leaflet produced by the BMA . Warning! Commercialising the NHS is damaging our health service. I have been asked to contact all our local GP surgeries to ask your opinions about the possible effects for local health care provision, if the Coalition Government presses ahead with their proposals.

We would like the opinion of the practice members, for example is your practice happy to manage up to 90% of the NHS budget and be placed in charge of commissioning services? All our members attend one or other of the local practices and have real concerns about the proposed changes. Horsham Labour Party members are proud of the NHS and the role our party has played in its formation and wish to play an active role in both defending and developing it for the benefit of all, free at the point of use.

Many of our members have written to the Government expressing their concerns and we are now seeking the opinions of local health care professionals.

Key issues include changes to commissioning and the scrapping of the PCTs and the greater involvement of
private companies in delivering services.

I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Yours Faithfully

Ray Chapman

Secretary
Horsham Labour Party

Local elections 2011 - our five commitments

From talking to local residents it is clear that many feel disappointed with the level of representation offered by our councillors.

Too many councillors once elected are never seen again, or move away like the Lib Dem from Horsham Park who lives in Hastings, but still claimed travel expenses when he attended council meetings.

The poor level of representation we have received in areas like Horsham Park over the last four years is a major motivation for us to offer residents a greater commitment to public service at a time when important decisions are being made about cuts to local services. Residents feel their views are not listened to and many people don’t even know who their councillors are! We believe that anyone elected to represent local people should do just that - represent their views on local matters - so if elected we undertake to:

  1. Be visible in the local area
  2. Attend both council and planning meetings
  3. Consult regularly on issues of local concern
  4. Feed back on council meetings through regular newsletters and publish a report on our website after council meetings, highlighting what we have said and how we voted
  5. Organise regular surgeries to offer help and advice with council issues
 More information about the 2011 elections, including a full list of candidates,  can be found here.

    Fundraising with Hazel Blears


    On Tuesday February 16th Horsham Labour party held a fund-raising quiz in Horsham, which was co-hosted by Hazel Blears MP and Andrew Skudder, our candidate at last year's general election.

    An open letter to Francis Maude

    A group of agricultural workers within the Horsham constituency (including Horsham Labour party's chair, David Hide, who works in the agricultural industry)  will be taking part in a national rally and lobby organised by Unite the Union on Wednesday 9th February.  The rally will be calling on the Tory-led government to remove the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board from the Public Bodies Reform Bill.

    Participants in the rally contacted their MPs to arrange to meet them in the lobby to discuss this important issue and the effects it would have on many of their constituents.  The Horsham contingent received a reply from their MP, Francis Maude, in which he declined to meet us

    We have therefor sent him an open letter to explain some of the things we hoped to explain in person.  The full text of the letters can be found below.

    Countryside Properties: Labour's objections

    Below are the full texts of the speeches we made at the planning meeting in objection to the application to build 963 homes in Broadbridge Heath, with only 20% of the proposed development addressing local housing needs.

    Lib Dems and Tories vote to dump almost 1000 homes on Broadbridge Heath

    At a planning meeting last week the Lib Dem and Tory councillors voted to build nearly 1000 homes on Broadbridge Heath, doubling the size of the village at a stroke.  

    Horsham Labour party spoke against this application, on the grounds that the plans contain insufficient affordable housing, with just 20% of the development site to be affordable. Our reactions are below.

    West Sussex Youth Centres

    A message from county councillor Chris Oxlade:

    We've been working hard to fight the massive cuts to the West Sussex Youth Service which the county council is trying to implement.

    Already the service has had £2 million slashed from its budget, and on the 11th February a further £2million is proposed to be cut.

    Currently 7 youth centres are at risk across West Sussex, and I've been working with young people in Crawley to help give them a voice.

    One way of doing this is the e-petition which two young lads have set up. If they get over 3,000 signatures, they will be able to stand up at the full council in front of 70 councillors and put a human face on these terrible cuts.

    If you have a couple of minutes to spare, please sign their petition and help them make a difference.

    Just click on this link!

    http://epetition.westsussex.public-i.tv/epetition_core/community/petition/1369

    Thanks for you help.