Summer 2018

By Hampshire and Isle of Wight Defend the NHS


To all Hampshire and Isle of Wight CCGs

RE. Hampshire and Isle of Wight NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs)


Following the general election on June 8th, the British government has been in disarray. Yet the Hampshire and Isle of Wight NHS STPs are continuing after they were signed off on 23rd December 2016 for a two- year period.  

Due to the severe lack of public engagement and consultation, many members of the public are still in the dark about the planned cuts to the county's NHS of £577m, made worse by  social care cuts of £192m. These cuts and resultant service closures are the reason STPs are dubbed "Slash Trash and Privatise" among campaigners.

We are beginning to see the devastating effects the STP cuts and closures are having on our NHS in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight GP surgeries are closing, with no plans to replace them like for like. The only plans we have seen are consistent with the stated STP aims of cutting GP workload by 30% and handing the work to “non- clinical staff”, i.e. volunteers and untrained staff.

Then there is the Naylor report, fully backed by the Prime Minister, and its explicit cross reference to STPs which in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight includes selling off 19% of the estate. It is likely that the Isle of Wight will be particularly affected.

The government has lost public confidence by finding £1bn to remain in power, yet telling nurses that "there is no magic money tree" for our NHS and its staff. This is blatantly untrue. Therefore we the undersigned demand that all cuts and  all current and ongoing footprint- wide implementation of the STPs stops immediately. The plans are hugely damaging for our NHS and need to be scrapped for good.