Hundreds march through Brighton in NHS protest

Hundreds of people took part in a protest march through Brighton to oppose changes locally in the NHS.

The march was organised by the GMB union and Defend the NHS Sussex branch and included hospital staff, union members and supporters.

The protest focused on changes being made by the chief executive of the hospital trust which runs the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

The organisers blame Matthew Kershaw, chief executive of Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust, for cuts and contracting out services.

They say that services such as pharmacy, audiology and sexual health are being privatised and that jobs will be lost.

The protesters carried an effigy of Mr Kershaw at the head of the march through Brighton on Saturday (2 November).

They met outside the Royal Sussex and marched through the centre of Brighton along North Street, Queen’s Road and North Road before a rally in Victoria Gardens.

The hospital trust said that the picture was more complex and that some of the decisions about services were being taken by other organisations, including the Brighton and Hove Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Brighton and Hove City Council.