by local area patients
We are a group of NHS campaigners, many of us have been, are or will be patients of an NHS hospital in England.
- Here are a few examples of our experiences:
- unacceptable waiting times for an ambulance
- long waits for the paramedics to be able to hand over to hospital care
- time spent in the A&E waiting room up to six or seven hours even longer
- prolonged periods in A&E, including “Resus”, due to lack of beds
Nationally, it is estimated that due to delays in accessing treatment, there are 250 avoidable deaths a week.
- treated in cramped cubicles or corridors
- “patched up” in A&E but due to lack of beds sent home, when we should have stayed in hospital
- it’s easy to see how over-worked our carers are – we are deeply grateful to our front-line Doctors and Nurses
There are simply not enough Doctors & Nurses! Due to poor conditions & pay there are over 135,000 unfilled vacancies in the NHS.
- unknowingly treated by a “physician associate” instead of a fully qualified Doctor
- sometimes having to go to A&E as we can’t get a GP appointment
About 20% NHS England’s budget is in the hands of private organisations which then allows them to take a at least 12% profits.
This QR code links to a letter/petition to the new Health Secretary asking him to properly fund Hospitals AS WELL AS Front Line Services: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/fund-hospitals-as-well-as-front-line-services
Why is this happening?
Forty years of gradual privatisation in the NHS under all governments:
- The Tory Government’s 2022 legislation has allowed and now promotes the full-on privatisation of NHS services.
- Public money is being taken from front-line health delivery services by the high costs of complex management, along with the exorbitant costs charged by the private healthcare providers.
- The private sector companies prioritise profit over care, and the NHS is paying through the nose for a poorer standard of services to patients.
We should demand the new government to reverse the Health and Care Act 2022, stop further privatisation, and take back the NHS into public ownership.
- Many hospital trusts are in debt as millions are being sucked out of health service budgets each year in interest payments on contracts that were taken out under the Private Finance Initiative when many new hospitals were being built.
- Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woolwich, opened in 2001- the existing military hospital was extended with a PFI contract which is still being paid for today.
- Bart’s Health, the biggest NHS Trust in England, entered into a 35 year PFI contract for the provision of new medical facilities which opened in 2012. The cost was £1.15 billion – the total cost to the Trust will be over £7 billion by the end of the contract. In 2015, the Trust received one of the worst inspection reports ever issued by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
- A number of PFI hospitals are known to have major structural defects, including the Royal Liverpool Hospital where the failed company Carillion used combustible cladding.
78% of the public want the NHS returned to public ownership.
All NHS staff need fair wage increases that recognise the important work and care they provide. Give them better conditions at work.