26/06/2011 The Politics Show North West


26/06/2011

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And in the North West: "Preparing for the fight of their

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lives." In the week that Unison threaten widespread strike action,

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we'll be reporting from their annual conference in Manchester.

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And justice for Jane. The family of a murdered Lancashire nurse take

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Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2512 seconds

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Hello and welcome to The Politics Show in the North West. I'm at

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Manchester Central - the venue of this year's Unison conference. It

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is all over now but throughout the week, 2000 delegates have been here.

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The message from them was very clear.

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If this government fails to heed our warnings to negotiate in good

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faith, I say to David Cameron, you ain't seen nothing yet.

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Also in the programme: Justice for Jane. We'll be hearing from the

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family of a murdered Lancashire nurse taking their campaign to

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Westminster. And a woman on a mission. Meet the

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historian raising money for a statue of Seaforth's most famous

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But first, "preparing for the fight of our lives", "sustained strike

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action" and "a wretched government". Just some of the statements to come

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out of this week's Unison conference here in Manchester.

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Members of the UK's largest public sector union, including nurses,

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social workers and paramedics, have threatened the biggest outbreak of

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industrial unrest since the 1926 General Strike over changes to

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their pension schemes. They're all the air campaign on

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strike action without precedent. Yes, we hope for the best. Yes, we

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will negotiate. But we plan for the worst, and our preparations are

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well advanced. But there is much more to do. And today, this is our

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union's call to arms. Fighting talk from Dave Prentis,

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the general secretary of Unison, and he is with me now. Thank you

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for joining us today. We are in Manchester, the heartland of the

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Union Movement. What have your members been saying to you? The big

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issues over the last week were the massive cutback in jobs, 500,000

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jobs to go from our public services. We had a massive debate not just on

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public services but on the private sector. One of the big issues is

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public sector pensions. You are in negotiations with the Government on

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that on Monday. The straw that breaks the camel's back is what

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this coalition is trying to dig to public service pension schemes.

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They are not gold plated. The biggest is the local government

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pension scheme. On average, most people are women and the average

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they get is �54 a week. It is not a king's ransom. If she saves all her

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life for that and if she had not paid in, she would go back on

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benefits. Is your official line that you are negotiating? We are

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negotiating tomorrow. It is the final meeting. The Cabinet Office

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have made it clear so far that they do not want any further meetings.

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We are expecting them to row back from what Danny Alexander said over

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a week ago when he announced a 50% increase in contributions,

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everybody would have to work longer, especially women, and we want him

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to row back from those silly statements. If we do not get a

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negotiated settlement, we are moving into industrial action.

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what has been coming out of the conference is pretty strong

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rhetoric. You have been saying things like unprecedented strike

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action, so it sounds like you have already made your minds up. If it

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gets to a point when you think that the negotiations have been running

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publicly through the media, the talks we have had over the last

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four months have come to nothing, obviously we only take industrial

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action as a final resort. Our members provide a caring services.

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We know that our members want that industrial action ballot now.

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you get into a long and protracted fight with the government, have

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your members got the stomach for the fight? We have over 1 million

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women members and they are really up for this flight. They have seen

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their jobs going, they have seen the pay freeze, they have seen all

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the excesses of the bankers, and to have their pensions taken away is a

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final straw. When we talk about it being bigger than the general

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strike, just factual. 700,000 public sector workers will be

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taking action on 30th June. We will be balloting 1.2 million workers.

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We will get a yes vote for action. It will be absolutely enormous.

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you support the teachers on Thursday, but what about health

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workers, paramedics and nurses? Would you support them going out on

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strike? They are our members. Our members will not walk away from

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patients. We will make sure that patients are safeguarded. But we

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will be taking effective action to out our health care services and

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our local community services. We are also looking for public support.

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That has changed over the last week. You may say that the rhetoric has

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been hard. We did a survey 10 days ago. 65% of the public or against

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unions taking action over pensions. By the end of our conference, the

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latest ballot has shown it is split 48% in favour, 48% against. We are

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winning the argument and that is really important. This coalition

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has got to realise that there are so many people involved, there will

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be sapped much support for them that it will hit them in the ballot

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box as well. We shall see. Thank you very much for joining us.

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Jane Clough was brutally murdered by her ex-partner almost a year ago.

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At the time, he was on bail charged with raping her. Jane's parents say

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she was badly let down by the legal system and should still be alive

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today. They're now being backed by their local MP who is highlighting

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their campaign in Parliament. Here's our political editor Arif

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Ansari. Jane was so considerate, so nothing,

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so generous with her love, her friends, everybody thought so much

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of her and she always had time for everybody.

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26-year-old nurse Jane Clough was stabbed to death in the car park of

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Blackpool Victoria Hospital in July last year. Her killer was Jonathan

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Vass - her ex-partner and the father of her baby. He was on bail,

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charged with rape. Jane's death was completely preventable. It is

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completely inconceivable to asked an to anybody we have spoken to,

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really, why bail was granted a with the number of charges levelled at

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him. Nine counts of rape and four counts of assault. Vass was granted

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bail in December 2009 on the condition he stayed away from Jane

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Clough. But her diary shows she was living in fear. I have been

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worrying today about Johnny coming to get me, even killing me. If he

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is found guilty when he is released waiting sentence, what will stop

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him? He is probably going to blame me. Most people are raped by people

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they know, so a fat person is given bail, they are going to know where

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they live. Maybe that is something they would be taking him to

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consider -- consideration. The Bail Act presumes people shall be

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granted bail, except in specific circumstances. The office

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But Jane's family say she was let down by the legal system and the

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law needs changing. When a bill decision is made by the judge, it

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seems that only the person in front of him matters. The victim has no

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part in this bail decision. problem is that at that stage of

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the proceedings, very often we don't know who the victim is. So I

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think there is far too much almost hysteria surrounding this concept

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of victim's rights, victims should and do have rights, but very often

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until the trial is completed, we don't know who the victim is.

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the Clough family have vowed to keep on campaigning. People who

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write the laws, from our point of view, tend to be too professional

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and dispatched and look at things in black and white. We need some

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human touch in these decisions. And until that comes, the world is not

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going to get any better. Let's discuss this further. I am

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joined by Andrew Stephenson, the Conservative MP for Pendle. You

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actually want the law changed. I think this case highlights a need

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to change the law, to ensure the prosecution has the right of appeal

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in a Bell case. I think if the law had been that way, when Jonathan

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Vass was granted bail, he simply would not have been granted bail.

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Just explain precisely how the law would be different. Basically, what

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my Bill proposes is that the prosecution, in this case the CPS,

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who were working on the family's behalf, when they found Jonathan

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Vass had been granted bail, they would have been able to appeal the

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decision and hopefully get it overturned. We know from the

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transcripts that it would have been overturned and Jonathan Bass would

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have been kept inside. I think this highlights a problem in the legal

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system. If you are detained by the police, you can appeal time and

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time again to be granted bail. Yet if you are the victim, you have no

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right of appeal. If the person who has done very stings against is

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granted bail, you have no right to appeal. So any case like this, we

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really do believe the prosecution should have the right to appeal and

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be up to say that people like Jonathan Vass should be kept behind

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bars awaiting their court cases. But there is a real danger of

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changing the law on the basis of a very tragic case but quite an

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exceptional one. That is right. When you look at this case, there

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is a whole range of issues coming out of it. Whether we should look

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at the way that judges behave, whether we should look at a bail

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proceedings in this country. I have spent a long time working with the

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family thinking about what is the most appropriate way to take this

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forward. I have been speaking to MPs and others and I have 40 or 50

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who are backing me to say that in a case like this the prosecution

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should have the right to say, hang on a minute, we think the judge has

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got this wrong. At the moment that right does not exist. Thank-you. Mr

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Stearman son's Ten Minute Rule Bill will be introduced into the House

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of Commons on Tuesday. Now for the latest in our series

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looking at moments in medical history. The NHS was formally

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launched in the North West in a Trafford hospital 63 years ago. As

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Gill Dummigan reports, it's a hospital which today finds itself

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In 1948, a radical new idea arrived in Britain.

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On July 5th, the new National Health Service starts, providing

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hospital and specialist services, medicines, drugs and appliances...

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It was the brainchild of Health Secretary Nye Bevan and he chose

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Park Hospital in Trafford to launch it. Britain's first NHS patient was

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13-year-old Sylvia Diggory. She'd already spent months in what was

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then a local authority hospital, being treated for a kidney

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condition. A very exciting day. It lightened the life in the hospital.

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There was a very sudden appearance of the man. So everybody had to

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rush round. It was very interesting. This leaflet is coming through your

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letterbox one day soon. The NHS was part of a package of social reform

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gifted to a war-weary Britain. Before then, people often had to

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plead their case to get free hospital care and, crucially, many

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had to pay to see a GP. People could consult their doctor in the

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first place because they could not afford the doctor and therefore

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never had access to secondary care. So it was there that the great

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social injustice was being perpetrated. The scheme is

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comprehensive. It is not only to help you when you are real but to

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help keep you well. Unsurprisingly, the new NHS became massively

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popular. The hope was that it would improve the nation's health so

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radically, demand to treat the sick might actually drop. But fast

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forward to 2011 and demand for the NHS is as high as ever. And Park

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Hospital? It's now Trafford General, run by Trafford Healthcare Trust,

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which can no longer afford to go it alone. It is a small district

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hospital and over the last three years, hospitals have become

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specialised or become more closer to home. More services are being

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delivered elsewhere and so our size has reduced. We are no longer

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viable independent labels stop -- Independent. The trust has invited

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neighbouring, larger trusts to take it over. We are confident that we

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will get bids. The deadline was Friday. If for any reason no other

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trust can take Trafford on, it will be offered to a private bidder.

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What would you say to people who are campaigning now, saying this is

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the birthplace of the NHS, it is fundamentally wrong to be taken

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over potentially by a private company? We have always said that

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our preferred option is to be taken over by a foundation Trust. We are

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hopeful that will happen. Sylvia Diggory became a lifelong champion

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of the NHS and was delighted when her son became a GP. Under the new

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NHS, he's now having to make tough decisions about what he can fund.

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What do you think your mother would say about what is going on now?

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was a wartime generation and so the concept of rationing was more clear

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to them than to me, so I think she would be pragmatic about the

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financial constraints and supportive of people making this

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difficult decisions. Joining me now is Professor Colin

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Talbot from the Manchester Business School. The funding of the NHS and

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hospitals is not nearly as simple as it was 63 years ago and it could

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get more complicated. Absolutely. Up until about 20 years ago, we had

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a very simple system where money cascaded from the Department of

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Health through regions and districts down to individual

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hospitals and family health services. Starting about 20 years

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ago, it got more complicated. It is going to get even more complicated

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under the new system the Government is introducing because of the

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changes they have made to legislation. It is not clear how it

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is going to operate. If you don't understand it, I'm not sure what

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hope there is for the rest of us, but are some hospitals at threat of

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closure? The general view is that there are probably around 20

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General Hospitals at least within England that are financially

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performing badly and are probably not needed because of the changing

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pattern of health care provision and a lot more can be provided in

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GP surgeries. It is difficult to say how many will close but some

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will. Our PFI hospitals more at risk? They have to find the money

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to pay their private partners. Bearing a strange position. Some of

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them are suffering financially because they're having to pay

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awards that are rented because they don't need them any longer. But at

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the same time, they have 30 year contracts so it is buried difficult

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to such bash to shut them down. It says some of those 20 hospitals in

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financial difficulty a PFI hospitals but they will probably be

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protected because they have PFI contracts. Are more hospitals going

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to find themselves in the position where perhaps Trafford does were

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they looking for other partners to take them over? I think a lot of

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hospitals are going to have to look carefully at where they get their

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funding streams and how they maintain themselves in the future.

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What ever the system the Government introduces, it will be more

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competitive than we have had up to now and it will be more difficult

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for hospitals to get hold of the resources to keep them going.

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you for joining us. Born in Liverpool in 1809, William

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Gladstone has the record for being Britain's oldest serving prime

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minister. He held the post four times, more than any other person.

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And now a historian from his home town is raising money for a

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permanent statue of Seaforth's most famous resident. Leanne Harper

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:00:22.:00:31.

This is Rodney Street in Liverpool city centre and is here where

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William Gladstone was born. But what many people don't realise is

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that he spent most of his chartered down the road in C four. -- most of

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his childhood down the road in Seaforth. A lot of the you just

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don't know Ruhi years. But the older generation, yes. Who is

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William Gladstone? This woman wants that to change. Because Gladstone

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lived in C four for 17 years, I decided to get a memorial to him.

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The motivation I had in the first place was to make everybody think

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well of Seaforth. I love Seaforth and I want everyone else to love it.

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The bronze bust of a stone which will sit on a stone column has been

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made by Liverpool sculpture. -- Dr. It has been on display in a nearby

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jewellers. It has already attracted a lot of attention. It took a lot

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longer to dress the Winder than we had hoped because people kept

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stopping to look in and we had to stop every time they did. But the

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memorial does not come cheap. So far �10,000 of the �18,000 needed

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has been raised, including a special donation. The first

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donation I had was from Sir William Gladstone of pardon Castle. He is

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the great-grandson. When I wrote to tell him what I was doing, he said

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he was delighted, and so he sent me �1,000. The memorial will

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eventually overlook where Gladstone went to school. He will then be

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facing exactly the site of St Thomas's Church, which his father

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built. He wrote in his diary when he was nine, I hope that my father

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will bequeath this church to me because I love it so much. Brenda

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Marriott hopes it will not be too long before Gladstone returns to

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his childhood home and is revived in people's memories for all stop

:02:34.:02:38.

That's all we have time for. There's no programme next week

:02:38.:02:41.

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