Chester Labour

Christine Russell says welcome to Chester Labour!

"Labour campaigns the whole year round.  If you'd like to help out with phone and doorstep canvassing, delivering leaflets or getting involved in other ways, please phone our office on 01244 400 174."

RE-ELECT CHRISTINE RUSSELL - PUTTING LOCAL PEOPLE FIRST

It is a great privilege to represent our historic city in Parliament. Chester, my home for 36 years, will always be my number one priority.

In Parliament I have championed the things that matter to local people from free nursery education to better support for pensioners. I will always make sure Chester receives its fair share of Government funding for education, health, housing and the police.

Britain has come through the most dramatic global recession in a generation. Unemployment in Chester is still 18.4% lower than it was in 1997. We cannot let the Tories risk the recovery by cutting away support for families and businesses too soon.

The task now is to secure a future that is fair for all. Labour will protect, not cut, front-line services like schools, hospitals and the police.

All content relating to Christine Russell as follows - "Promoted by Bob Rudd on behalf of Christine Russell both at Abbey House, Abbey Green, Chester CH1 2JH"

MY PLEDGES TO YOU

Protect local jobs

Support Chester businesses to recover from the recession and grow and prosper.

Safeguard the NHS

Continue to keep waiting times short and provide a two week guarantee for cancer patients.

Invest in housing

Provide affordable homes for local people to rent and buy and employment for construction workers.

Help older people

Restore the link between pensions and earnings, and improve care services to help older people to stay in their own homes.

Support young people

Offer one-to-one tuition to pupils falling behind in English and Maths, and guarantee a job or training place for all 18-24 year olds.

PROUD OF THE NHS AT 60

60 years ago, Labour created the NHS. It was born in a society where healthcare was exclusive, expensive and unavailable for many ordinary people. To most citizens, illness meant desperation, suffering and even destitution. Thousands died from diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis, tuberculosis, diphtheria and polio because they could not afford treatment. Britain needed a system that provided healthcare to everyone, free at the point of delivery, based on need and not the ability to pay.

It was the Beveridge Report that demonstrated the need for universal healthcare and it was the Labour Government that made it a reality. Despite opposition from the Tories, who voted against its creation, the NHS was launched in 1948. Through its early years, times were tough but the NHS helped the British people cope with post-war society. For the first time ever hospital services, family practitioner services (doctors, pharmacists, opticians and dentists) and community-based services were available to the public for free under one organisation.

Since then, the NHS has proved itself vital to the British people. It has been a source of confidence as families know that they will receive the best possible treatment, whatever their financial circumstances. The NHS became a symbol of freedom from fear and of a government on your side.

Find out more about Labour and the NHS here.

PROUD OF THE NHS AT 60 IN CHESTER

The National Health Service was 60 years old on the 5th July 2008. A Thanksgiving Service to celebrate one of our country’s greatest achievements was held in Chester Cathedral on Sunday 6th July at 6.30pm.

The post-war Labour Government created the NHS in 1948 and, for the first time, healthcare was available to the public for free. Older readers may remember how poorer families struggled to pay for medical treatment or life saving surgery before the advent of the NHS.

When the NHS was established there were five local hospitals; the Royal Infirmary in the city centre, Chester City Hospital in Hoole, Deva Hospital in Liverpool Road, Barrowmore Hospital in Barrow and Ellesmere Port Cottage Hospital.

The Royal Infirmary was founded as a charitable institution in 1755. It was housed in the upper part of the Bluecoat School in Northgate Street until a purpose-built hospital was opened in St Martin in the Field. Extensions were added over the next 200 years. The fine original 1761 building overlooking the City Walls was converted into apartments after the Infirmary closed in the 1990s.

The Cheshire County Lunatic Asylum was opened in 1829. When the NHS took over the running of the hospital from the County Council it was re-named the Deva Hospital. The improvements in the care of people with learning disabilities and mental health problems resulted in a drastic reduction in the number of in-patients. The 1829 building is now the headquarters of the Western Cheshire Primary Care Trust and the state-of-the-art Bowmere Hospital has replaced the gloomy Victorian wards.

The City Hospital in Hoole Lane began life as the Chester Poor Law Union Workhouse in 1873. It amalgamated with the Royal Infirmary in 1963. Barrowmore Hospital was opened in 1920 as a sanatorium and a "colony for ex-servicemen". When it became part of the NHS it was transformed into a regional centre for major surgery, treating patients from across Cheshire and Merseyside. It too closed following the opening of the Countess.

Dedicated and skilled NHS staff have provided generations of care for all of us. People are now living, on average, 10 years longer than they did before 1948. The NHS remains Britain’s most cherished public service and the fairest system of healthcare in the world. Today the NHS is focused on preventing ill-health as well as curing it.

CHRISTINE RUSSELL SUPPORTS BREAST CANCER CAMPAIGN

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in the UK and Christine Russell and Chester Labour want to encourage everyone to take part in this event to help raise money and awareness of this dreadful disease.

Thousands of families are affected by this illness each year but survival rates are improving. The Wear It Pink campaign and Breast Cancer Awareness Month are really important ways of promoting breast awareness and ending the suffering faced by thousands of women each year.

To find out more about Christine Russell's initiative, read a background article in the Chester and District Standard.

To find out more about the astonishing programmes of renewal that successive Labour governments have carried out in the NHS, please see the video below.