We own the NHS. Its assets, its staff, its equipment is all paid for by the British people. Yet for 40 years successive governments of all hues have provided the means for profiteers to siphon off public money. The process began ‘by stealth’ and is now openly paraded as the panacea for an NHS which has been deliberately ‘broken’.
Now, therefore, we are reclaiming the NHS so that the provision of healthcare in the UK becomes completely publicly provided. It must also be publicly funded, democratically accountable and free to all on the basis of all British peoples’ clinical needs. We must TAKE BACK WHAT WAS OURS!
No to Privatisation
Every week £10m goes into the pockets of private companies with contracts with the NHS. Up to 26% of NHS England expenditure is given to non-NHS providers.
https://weownit.org.uk/blog/analysis-nhs-has-lost-10-million-week-private-profits-2012
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/nhs-spending-on-the-independent-sector/
- Privatisation fragments a previously unified and integrated service.
- Privatisation means lower quality service. Based on international surveys privatisation leads generally to worse health outcomes.
- Privatisation diverts money meant for the treatment and care of everyone in Britain into private profit.
- The Private Finance Initiative burdens hospitals with debt, the payments of which are ring-fenced while other services are cut.
End Privatisation:
- Stop the private company takeover of GP practices and end all existing arrangements. GP practices will become state employees as family doctors.
- Nationalise all private hospitals.
- End all existing outsourcing of clinical, scientific and technical, administrative and ‘ancillary’ activities purchased through NHS contracts with private firms. This should be done as soon as a smooth transition can be made.
- Nationalise the companies at the centre of PFI contracts so taking control of debts and all outsourcing contracts. All future hospitals to be built using public borrowing not private finance. They must ensure high standards for fire prevention, energy, water and sewage provision, space, light and bed capacity.
- Pass legislation enacting minimum levels of pay, staffing, conditions and training of all staff, whether clinical or ‘ancillary’, employed either directly or through contracted private providers. This should cover all workers in the health, public health, primary care and social care services, Such a simple measure would immediately render much of the privatised or to-be-privatised services unprofitable.
Increase Capacity:
- Develop a programme to ensure that Britain trains all the medical and ancillary staff it needs. Such a programme to be started immediately as training is a lengthy process. This means a massive expansion of government-funded places at medical schools and in hospitals and GP practices.
- Provide full bursaries for trainee doctors, nurses, midwives, and care assistants. Cancel all outstanding student debts for doctors and nurses. Ensure in situ medical training in hospitals etc is fully funded, and such training, especially for nurses and midwives should be prioritised over academic performance.
- Halt the expansion of the employment of Physician Associates, who do not have the training and depth of knowledge and experience to make safe decisions regarding patients.
- Bring the UK to average European standards for hospital beds. This will mean building new general hospitals, cottage hospitals, and specialist beds eg for mental health.
- Establish extensive public manufacturing for the provision of basic clinical equipment, such as masks, needles, surgical gowns etc and implement tough regulatory systems for the procurement of all more complex equipment. Establish state owned pharmaceutical laboratories to develop and manufacture products according to the needs of the NHS. This would make drugs cheaper and also reduce public scepticism about the efficacy and safety of pharmaceutical products.
Establish a National Care Service
Nationalise all private care homes, bring in-house all council outsourcing of social care provision.
- Introduce professional qualifications for care home staff, and offer appropriate professional pay and conditions.
Prioritise primary care and public health
- End the outsourcing of public health provision – such as contracts for smoking cessation, adult weight management, school vaccination, sexual health, addiction and health education.
- End the privatisation of GP practices.
Background briefing notes – The current state of the NHS, public health and social care