MP tackles health chiefs

MPs will tomorrow meet with health chiefs to discuss massive job losses and a damning documentary which showed hospital staff allegedly mistreating patients.

The Pennine Acute Trust, which runs the Royal Oldham, Rochdale Infirmary, North Manchester General and Fairfield General announced earlier this year it would lose up to 1,000 jobs as the Trust aims to save at least £45 million by April, 2012.

Oldham West and Royton MP Michael Meacher said: “We will obviously be discussing the threat of 1,000 job losses from a total of about 13,000 that is a massive cut.

“I have been lobbied by the Royal College of Nursing and all unions that are concerned about the situation and I will raise their concerns.”

Last month Channel 4’s Dispatches programme made claims about treatment of patients and staffing levels at North Manchester General and the Royal Oldham hospitals.

Two reporters went undercover from December, 2010, to March this year and it showed staff making derogatory remarks, ignoring, and raising their voices at patients.

Mr Meacher added: “The Dispatches programme will inevitably be discussed as I think the issues it raised were very worrying.”