ONLY a handful of people attended a union rally in Hereford at the weekend seeking support to protect hospitals and health services in the county.

Unison officials admitted to being disappointed at the turnout at the protest meeting at the Shirehall, but said it was only the start of its major campaign "Keep the NHS Working".

Regional officer Edna Hall blamed the poor attendance on the fact that far more emphasis had been placed on the difficulties facing the NHS in Worcestershire in recent months.

But in a cost-cutting exercise, Hereford Hospitals Trust was planning to get rid of 75 full-time equivalent posts which would impact directly on services to patients and there are fears more jobs and services could go as the trust tried to achieve Foundation status.

Local Unison branch secretary Sylvia Daniels said people in Herefordshire should be aware of the consequences of the County Hospital becoming a Foundation Trust. "It means it will be a business," she said.

Edna Hall said NHS workers were under great stress and Unison and other health unions were calling on the Government to slow down on its speed of changes, to re-think its policies and to study which ones worked and which did not.

Health unions were united in a five-point campaign asking the Government to halt further privatisation, find an alternative to the Private Finance Initiative, not use "more choice'' as an excuse to privatise the NHS, end the payment by results system and to ensure NHS funding paid for more NHS staff and not to line the pockets of company shareholders.

Unions are planning to lobby all MPs on November 1 and to hold a mass demonstration in London early next year.