A quick scan of local newspapers reveals that 38 Degrees members are fighting all over England to support the campaign in their communities and get their neighbours onside. Take a look at some great examples from the past week below:
A 38 Degrees member from West Cheshire wrote to the Chester Chronicle with their concerns about the changes to NHS. As the article explains 38 Degrees members come from different walks of life with different levels of knowledge: “members including a retired GP, health workers, patients and trade unionists…”. They managed to contact the Chairman of the West Cheshire CCG to discuss how patients could be better represented.
38 Degrees members in Huddersfield wrote to the The Huddersfield Daily Examiner to ask CCG Board members to implement constitutional amendments designed to protect the NHS: “CCGs should protect the NHS by adopting the 38 Degrees amendments to their constitutions”. Publicity like this is really important to make sure that the new CCG constitutions are under public scrutiny from day one.
In Buckingham, 38 Degrees members raised awareness about services that had been outsourced in the area in a letter to the Bucks Free Press: “the county’s out-of-hours GP service andWycombe Hospital’s new Minor Injury and Illnesses Unit are also run by a private firm, called Bucks Urgent Care.” The Buckinghamshire group also took the opportunity to publicise the 38 Degrees petition, attracting more signatures.
These are just 3 examples and they’re all very different styles. Local publicity like this is essential in bringing the debate to a wider audience, and to ask the public to consider what’s happening to their local NHS.
Why not update your local newspaper about what 38 Degrees members are up to in your area? The 38 Degrees website makes it very easy – take a look at our suggested wording and make sure your local news desk runs the story soon.
6 Comments »