Resource Cabinet

Accountable (Integrated) Care Organisations and Systems

The NHS is again undergoing radical reorganisation in 2017/18, this time at breakneck speed and without parliamentary consent.

Ageing and the NHS

Our aging population is often cited by those seeking to privatise the NHS as grounds for dismantling the current system. It is a myth that the NHS cannot continue to be publicly funded because we are living longer and we have compiled a factsheet and some articles supporting that assertion.

Campaigning documents

If you are unsure how best to get your voice heard please use these resources to help you.

Community based care

Community based care literally refers to care in the community (e.g. outside hospitals) this can include home support, nursing, physiotherapy and other rehabilitation services. Part of the Government's proposal for the NHS is to shift more care into the community. Research suggests that this will be damaging to patients.

Coronavirus Pandemic 2020

In March 2020 the WHO announced a new pandemic, the coronavirus COVID-19. Our government was not prepared. Austerity, arrogance and ignorance let the UK population down

Cuts, closures and mergers

Please follow the links below for NHS hospitals and service currently under threat.

Devolution

Devolution refers to the devolving of powers and funds from central government to government. The potential impact on the NHS includes loss of national overview and terms & conditions. Fragmented services and loss of national responsibility will escalate post-code inequalities of service provision.

Freedom of Information requests

General Information

Government and NHS England policy

It is important where possible to scrutinise past and current Government & NHS England (NHSE) and NHS Improvement (NHSI) policy and guidance, including their plans are for the future of the NHS. We include here some key documents (2014 onwards) that outline some of their strategies.

Health Unions

Below, you can find links to health union websites (BMA and RCN are currently not TUC affiliates)

Integrated Care Systems

The NHS is again undergoing radical reorganisation.

Integration

Integrated health and social care delivered to patients and families is an important ambition. Enforced administrative integration of budgets, management and organisational forms, without consultation, guarantees of adequate funding and commitment to fully public service provision, funding and management, can be very damaging - an evidence base must be presented.

International Health Systems

Sources to enable comparison of the NHS with the healthcare systems in other countries in terms of resources, funding, performance and outcomes.

Junior Doctors

Keep Our NHS Public actively supported the Junior Doctors during their historic industrial action including strikes against the imposition of new contracts by Jeremy Hunt in 2015/16.

leaflets

We use leaflets in our campaigning and below is an archive of our national leaflets. Those relevant to current events should still be available via the shop.

Legal information

Legal information including Judicial Review. NB: legal changes may make some information out of date - check.

Local NHS issues

Mental Health - Children (CAMHS) and Adults

Policy and data on child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS) and for adults.

Migrants and Health incl Charges

[See also RACISM AND HEALTH] Statutory changes force trusts to check patients' eligibility for free NHS treatment. Processes are often brutal and wrongly applied.

NHS Activity

The clinical activity provided by the NHS is steadily rising, with failure of Government since 2010 to maintain fund in line with need.

NHS England and Policy

See GOVERNMENT and NHS ENGLAND POLICY

    NHS Estates

    NHS Property Services manages 3,500 properties. In 2016/17, a change was made in the way rent is charged, based on Market Based Rental charging on all freehold properties. The threat to NHS estate has escalated, embodied in The Naylor Review 2018, recommending massive sell-off of NHS estate.

    NHS Funding

    Government policies have led to systematic underfunding of the NHS alongside privatisation. Please see a variety of links relating to funding levels and funding streams for the NHS.

    NHS Myths

    There are many myths propagated in order to justify privatisation and STPs. Below are some KONP resources and others to highlight what these myths are.

    NHS Organisation

    The NHS's structure changed significantly with the Health & Social Care Act implemented April 2013. Clinical Commissioning groups replaced Primary Care Trusts and are responsible for their local area. Below is an in depth guide to the structure of CCG's and a paper detailing what, exactly, a Health and Wellbeing board are.

    NHS performance

    Reports and outputs from independent think tanks and regulators are a good way of discovering data on how the NHS is performing.

    NHS Reinstatement Bill

    The NHS Reinstatement Bill is draft legislation co-written by Peter Roderick and Professor Allyson Pollock. It has been presented in parliament on several occasions, most recently in the session ending in April 2017 (National Health Service Bill 2016 2017). The draft Bill calls for a reinstatement of the NHS to a fully public service, ending internal markets and competitive tendering including private contracts; and a return to an NHS available to everyone equally, free of charge and publicly accountable.

    NHS Scrutiny

    It can often be difficult to sift through and discover what is actually happening. Here are some resources that can aid you in delving further into exactly what the current Government is planning for our NHS and to show others.

    NHS staff - workforce data and planning

    From the Junior Doctor's Strike to the scrapping of bursaries for nurses, the NHS staff have been hit hardest by the Hunt's policies over the last few years.

    Party Political Health Policy

    The Conservative Government's plans for the NHS (underfunding, devolution, privatisation) are dominant since May 2010. Please see alternative health policies of other parties below.

    Pathology

    NHS England and Dept of Health are imposing 29 massive pathology networks, forcing NHS trusts to give up their services into network contracts so large they are likely only to go to private or public-private consortia. This follows the recommendations of the Carter Review 2008 and the Carter Report 2015/16; and now in the context of the NHS Long Term Plan January 2019

    Personal health budgets

    A personal health budget is an amount of money calculated to support the identified healthcare and wellbeing needs of an individual. In theory, that individual has greater freedom to decide how the money is spent. It has the impact of reducing the overall size of budgets for services to be able to plan with.

    PFI

    PFI stands for Private Finance Initiative. It has been the dominant way of financing new hospitals since the late 1990s. As a result, the NHS spends £2 billion in PFI charges every year for its PFI hospitals in repayment and service charges. (That is £3,700 every minute).

    Primary Care and GPs

    Primary Care and the role of the family general practitioner (GP) has been a fundamental part of the NHS since 1948. Major proposals from NHS England in 2019 threaten major changes. In particular there are two areas of proposals: the development of Primary Care Networks (PCNs) and new integrated Care Trusts (ICTs).

    Privatisation

    A mix of articles describing aspects of privatisation of healthcare and consequences for the NHS.

    Privatisation Failures

    The articles below provide examples of where privatisation has had a direct and negative impact on care and/or where contracts have failed.

    Public Health and poverty, social deprivation

    Information on public health and the link between poverty and health inequality.

    Racism and Health

    [See also MIGRANTS AND HEALTH] Accusations have increased blaming vulnerable groups, im , 'health tourism' and minority communities for problems faced by the NHS. These have included accusations against migrants with no recourse to public funds racking up giant NHS bills. Unpaid bills from people outside the UK cost the NHS about 0.03% of it's budget in 2016.

    Rationing in the NHS

    The NHS care is increasingly being rationed due to under-funding and top-down fragmentation of vital services.

    Social Care

    Social Care is another area that has been severely affected by this Government cuts, social care is closely linked to health and the NHS. Between 2010 and 2017, local authorities cost 40% of funding.

    STPs - Sustainability and Transformation Plans

    England has been split in 44 'footprints' by NHS England since December 2015. Each area has produced a Sustainability and Transformation Plan created by groups of Clinical Commissioning Groups. It heralds the implementation of draconian cost capping (£22bn by 2020/21) and further fragmentation of the NHS.

    Trade Agreements (including CETA & TTIP)

    Trade agreements can be a major threat to public services such as the NHS, unless these are explicitly, and in binding manner, excluded. KONP has a Trades Agreement sub-group that works to expose risks to public services, especially the NHS, from new trade deals that the UK is negotiating after Brexit. Have a look in the Campaigns section of this website to see what action we have been taking and for some important information in the form of briefings etc. Resources listed here include background information about new deals, as well as older briefings, reports etc on EU negotiations pre-Brexit where these remain relevant to our new situation.

    Voluntary Sector and the NHS

    Weekend effect

    The 'weekend effect' refers to the finding of a difference in mortality rates for patients admitted to hospital for treatment at the weekend compared to those admitted on a weekday. It was misused by Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health, to attack junior doctors and to impose a new JD contract in 2015/16.

    Whistleblowing in the NHS

    One important way of maintaining high standards in the NHS is to guarantee protection for genuine 'whistleblowers'. In many cases staff or members of the public raising important issues have been victimised and some have lost their jobs.