With a new flu epidemic spreading rapidly southwards through the country, it is clear hospitals have been cut back so far that they cannot cope.
Increasing numbers of beds left open will be 'blocked' by elderly patients who cannot be discharged into the collapsing, under- funded new community care arrangements.
Soon 'yellow' and then 'red' alerts will be imposed, leading to the cancellation of thousands more waiting list operations.
The cancellation of waiting list admissions last winter resulted in the present millionplus waiting list totals nationally - almost a third of them (300,000) in the four Thames regions.
Yet even as the queues lengthen, more beds are closing and more health workers are being thrown onto the dole.
The NHS crisis is deepening. University College Hospital.
In many cases health workers appear daunted by the sheer scale of the financial problems faced by Trusts in the new internal market. The UCH management, for example, faces a massive £13m shortfall, South Birmingham £24m, and Guy's-St Thomas's £75m over five vears.
Workers embarking on industrial action against such odds need to feel part of a movement, feel sure they will not just be isolated and defeated.
That is why the TUC demonstration, opening the way to link up the rival health unions with other sections of workers and build a common national campaign, is important. It shows what could be achieved through joint action targeted at a common enemy.
The inter-union links that have been formed in building for the November 20 demo must be continued and extended, Health workers must organise to defend themselves, and link up with other campaigns and community groups. After all, we can't afford to wait another five years for the next TUC demo! | • FUTURE issues of | Liberation's fortnightly sister Paper SOCIALIST OUTLOOK will carry feature articles I examining the Clinton health I plan in the USA and health services in Europe, and coverage of the fight for the NHS in Britain. | TRIAL SUB: 7 issues for | just E3! order now from PO Box 1109, LONDON N4 2UU
BIG DEMONSTRATIONS have recently challenged the Nazi-style racists of the BNP in East London and the 'state racism' of the government's Asylum Act and other legislation. The biggest health union, UNISON, encourages its black members to organise themselves in groups to ensure their demands are heard.
But as Britain's biggest employer of black workers, the record of the NHS on fighting racism remains poor.
Each round of cuts and privatisation has struck first and hardest at black health workCLS.
In the early 1980s, tens of thousands of • black workers were employed in NHS ancilThousands more still work for the NHS but on shorter hours and worsened conditions.
The picture is also bleak for any black nurses, thousands of whom were encouraged to work as unqualified nursing auxiliaries (NAs) or to seek the less academic Enrolled Nurse (SEN) qualification.
Now a new system of nurse training offers promotion only to Registered nurses. Yet for 100,000 SENs only 3,000 places are available on conversion courses: selection procedures are tough, and some SENs are even being asked to pay for their own training. But if they stay put, they could find their jobs wiped out as Trusts replace them with cheaper, less qualified staff.