[12 July 2016]
Labour MP for Wirral West Margaret Greenwood will present a bill on the NHS to Parliament on Wednesday 13th July, and Keep Our NHS Public will be joining a rally outside Parliament in support (12.30-2pm, opposite the public entrance in Abingdon Street). The purpose of the Bill is to stop the privatisation of the NHS and return it to its founding principles.
The Bill is what is known as a Ten Minute Rule Bill and has cross-party support. It is hoped that the bill will progress to a second reading later in the year.
Margaret Greenwood MP said:
“It is a privilege to have the opportunity to present this Bill to the House of Commons on 13 July. Doctors, nurses and campaigners across the country have been working tirelessly to combat privatisation of the NHS.
“The Health and Social Care Act 2012 provided the framework for the privatisation. Currently NHS hospitals are allowed to make up to 49% of their money from private patients. It’s is a national scandal. Nobody voted for that, and yet that’s exactly what the Coalition government passed the law to do.
“The 2012 Act also made it a requirement that all NHS contracts should go out to competitive tender. As a result we are seeing big private health care companies snapping up contracts, taking them from existing NHS providers. This means that money that should be spent on health care is going into the pockets of shareholders. It’s just plain wrong.
“The NHS Bill which I will present to Parliament is designed to put a stop to this. The NHS is currently on life support, and the public, patients and NHS staff know it. This bill provides a viable alternative. The NHS was 68 years old this week. We need to make sure it’s there for all who need it for the next 68 years too.”
Dr Tony O’Sullivan, a retired NHS consultant paediatrician and Co-chair of Keep Our NHS Public, said:
“Keep Our NHS Public has been campaigning since 2005 to stop creeping privatisation in the NHS in England. We fully support the NHS Bill and Margaret Greenwood’s presentation. The NHS is facing what will be 10 years of austerity by 2020, with underfunding of 3% each year cumulatively.
“Further damaging reorganisation and spiralling fragmentation of the NHS under Simon Stevens’ ‘Sustainability ad Transformation Plans’ threatens critical damage to the NHS. We will support the representation of the NHS (Reinstatement) Bill again and again until the NHS is safe again, secure as a public service, publicly funded and provided to deliver once again a universal, comprehensive and national health service.”
[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.]
I was delighted to be in the group on the pavement outside Parliament on the day this bill was presented. The two ladies that sang some songs were a special treat – thank you.
I was recently alarmed to discover that my local CCG (East Staffordshire) have allocated Virgin Care £36 million, roughly a third of last years acute hospital service budget, to provide services. Apparently, they will spend some of this money on services provided by my local hospital, but they (Virgin) are allowed to be both providers and commissioners of services! Can this be correct? Is it not just a little bit corrupt?