£2 MILLION CUTS TO MENTAL HEALTH
WHY SHOULD WE PAY MORE WHEN WE GET EVEN LESS?

Union reps were told today that the Mental Health Budget for this year requires £2 million of cuts. This is a scandal. Two weeks ago we were told by the Labour Government we had to pay 1% extra National Insurance to pay for the NHS. Mental Health is supposed to be a Government priority. Yet we still face enormous cuts.

Proposals so far include:

• Closure of all acupuncture services - redeploy staff
• Closure of Asian mental health services - redeploy the community nurse and work into a CMHT vacancy.
• Closure of Homeless Team - redeploy the staff and work into CMHT vacancies.
• Cut the Horticultural project in North by redeploying qualified staff.
• Disestablish the Projects Nurse post in South Manchester - redeploy.
• Cut Eating Disorder Team by a third - redeploy nurse.
• Cut Psychology Assistant post in South.
• Cut all 3 Clinical Services Managers - redeploy staff.
• Cut Welfare Rights post in Edale Unit - redeploy staff.
• Cut Community Living Manager posts from 3 to 2 - redeploy staff.
• Cut Directorate Manager in Elderly Services.
• Cut Administration post in North Manchester.
• On top of this there will be no money available for upgrading or for the extra staff we need to keep our existing services going.

WHY have we got these problems? The NHS is supposed to have received much more money.

The real problem is PFI (Private Finance Initiative) hospitals. The new Wythenshawe Hospital is costing £40 million a year more because it has been built by PFI. This extra cost is being spread as cuts across Greater Manchester. Our share is £2 million cuts. So our tax and National Insurance are going to swell the profits of the private developers and contractors.

The millions Blair spends fighting George Bush’s wars should go into Welfare not warfare.

We cannot let the Government get away with these cuts. In an already deprived inner city area, service users and their carers are going to get even less. Together we can stop them. We need to unite together to campaign for the money the government promised us and that we desperately need to provide our service.

COME TO THE MASS MEETING

North - Monday 13th May 1pm Park House
South - Tuesday 14th May 1pm Laureate House
Central -Wednesday 15th May 1pm Lecture Theatre, MRI

Please photocopy this leaflet and distribute widely. Encourage everyone - staff and users - to attend.