[Tuesday 23 August]
The disclosure that plans being applied throughout England carry substantial risks which this government has simply ignored[1] should surprise no one. It has happened before: the risks inherent in the Health and Social Care Act were also ignored, then kept hidden[2].
What this shows, with devastating clarity, is that Jeremy Hunt is determined to cut NHS services for no other reason than political ideals and is doing so at the expense of safety to patients. The cast-iron certainty founded in little more than arrogance that public services must be cut, despite the wealth of evidence showing that the NHS is the fairest way of providing healthcare, and that it is being under-funded systematically year on year.
Dr Jacky Davis, consultant radiologist and campaigner for Keep Our NHS Public, said:
“We now know that Jeremy Hunt has not only ignored advice from NHS staff but also from his own experts. Rather than making patients safer he is actually putting patients in danger by using the ’24/7 NHS’ to score cheap political points. He is undermining the NHS and putting its staff under huge stress at a time when the NHS needs them more than ever.”
[Ends]
Editors’ Notes
Keep Our NHS Public was formed in 2005 and has a broad-based, public membership. There are 38 local groups, plus a national association. It has the explicit aim of countering marketisation [1,2] and privatisation of the NHS by campaigning for a publicly funded, publicly provided and publicly accountable NHS, available to all on the basis of clinical need. It is opposed to cuts in service which run counter to these principles. Further details: www.keepournhspublic.com
KONP’s Campaigns and Press Officer is Alan Taman:
07870 757 309
Twitter: https://twitter.com/keepnhspublic
Facebook: Keep-Our-NHS-Public
[1] Davis, J., Lister, J. and Wrigely, D. (2015) NHS For Sale. London: Merlin Press.
Leys, C. and Player, S. (2011) The Plot Against the NHS. Pontypool: Merlin
Lister, J. (2008) The NHS After 60: For Patients or Profits? London: Middlesex University Press
Owen, D. (2014) The Health of the Nation: The NHS in Peril. York: Methuen, Chapter 4.
Player, S. (2013) ‘Ready for market’. In NHS SOS ed by Davis, J. and Tallis, R. London: Oneworld, pp.38-61.
[2] The belief that ‘competition is always best’ does not work when applied to healthcare. A comprehensive and universal health service is best funded by public donation, which has been shown to be far more efficient overall than private-insurance healthcare models
[Davis, J., Lister, J. and Wrigley, D. (2015) NHS For Sale. London: Merlin Press. Chapters 2 and 8.
Lister, J. (2013) Health Policy Reform: global health versus private profit. Libri: Faringdon.
Pollock, A. and Price, D. (2013) In NHS SOS, ed by Davis, J. and Tallis, R. Oneworld: London, 174.]
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/aug/22/secret-documents-reveal-official-concerns-over-seven-day-nhs-plans
[2] http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9252956/Risk-assessment-for-health-reforms-to-stay-unpublished-as-Andrew-Lansley-wields-FoI-veto.html
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