NHS campaigners to gather in Leeds for regional conference

Action groups from around the north of England will take part in the event in Leeds on Saturday.

Controversial plans to change the way health services are funded will be discussed at the Northern Health Campaigns Together Conference, along with overcrowding in hospitals and fears over privatisation.

Gilda Peterson, of Leeds Keep Our NHS Public, said: “We have got groups from all over the north of England coming. It’s really to learn from each other and share ideas and experience.”

The event at the St George’s Conference Centre, Great George Street, will he held after warnings were made over rising demand on NHS services around the country.

Latest figures showed that hundreds of patients have been stuck in A&E waiting for a bed.

At Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust more than 1,500 people waited more than four hours to be found a place on a ward in December.

Ms Peterson said hospitals were struggling to free up beds because of a shortage of social care places.

She added: “A lot of people are stuck in hospital and can’t get off the wards. It’s hard to discharge people because of a lack of social care.

“There are some fantastic staff who are going the extra mile.”

Among groups taking part in the conference will he Hands off HRI (Huddersfield Royal Infirmary), set up to fight plans to knock down the town’s hospital and replace it with a smaller site.

Campaigners from Liverpool, Northumbria and Leicester are also expected to be there, along with academics, NHS staff and health unions.