CAMPAIGNERS have called on Bolton residents to stop “widespread cuts” they claim could destroy the NHS.

About 50 people attended a public meeting organised by Unison in Bolton Central Library’s lecture theatre on Saturday to discuss a proposal to scrap 500 jobs at the Royal Bolton Hospital.

They also discussed how they could influence the Government’s Healthier Together reforms, which aims to get the NHS providing more services at local clinics and could result in the closure of some Greater Manchester hospitals and hospital departments over the next few years.

There were Bolton representatives from Labour, the Conservatives and The Green Party — but Unison officials said it was key that the battle against the proposed cuts was not sidetracked by political disagreements.

Bolton South MP Yasmin Qureshi said: “You cannot say that if you take 10 or more people away from a particular department and make all these cuts, services will not be affected.

“If it’s a question of money, the Department of Health returned an underspend of £2 billion back to the Treasury.

“Why on earth didn’t they give this to the hospitals?”

Unison representative Karen Reissmann added: “I do think the very existence of the NHS is at risk at the moment due to the privatisations that are going on at a greater scale.

“I think that people have no real sense that this is going on. The challenge is to get the message out there.”

Another Unison representative Harry Hanley, said: “I honestly don’t think most people know about what is going on and so the challenge is to get them fighting this battle with us.”

The meeting finished with a unanimous support on a motion which read: “We note Bolton NHS wants to cut 500 posts from the Royal Bolton Hospital and community health services.

“We do not believe this can be done without having an adverse affect on patient care.

“We ask Bolton Council’s health scrutiny to intervene and for Bolton NHS to suspend these job cuts and a review take place which can ensure patients don’t die here in Bolton.”