The NHS is under attack from all sides as the Government has used the cover of the pandemic to force through privatisation plans, with the controversial White Paper released on February 11th, the roll out of ‘Integrated Care Systems’ through the ‘Health and Care Bill’, the sell-off GP services, and continuing cronyism – all carried out at a time of increased danger brought about by the Trade Bill, and in the context of cuts, closures and the ongoing sale of NHS land and buildings. It is a complex picture but, as far as the Government is concerned, with one direction of travel.
…..we have a health service now….but there’s no doubt about it….we’ll miss it more when it’s gone….
Privatisation v Public ownership. It isn’t just about some ideological battle. It’s about whether all of us can have access to a strong NHS. There’s a lot to lose – and a lot we could gain if we all demand that public services work for people not profit. Say NO to privatisation.
And it is sad to post the next image.
The Commonwealth Fund’s latest Mirror, Mirror report – which analyses how healthcare in the US compares with services in other rich countries – has downgraded the NHS from top spot to fourth position in its global rankings, citing increased patient delays post-covid and lack of investment as the main reasons for the change….political decisions which pave the way for increased privatisation.
The NHS achieved top place in the Washington-based thinktank’s two previous reports, but now ranks behind Norway, the Netherlands and Australia.
See: The Lowdown (10th August 2021) NHS loses top spot in international rankings
The Guardian (4th August 2021) NHS drops from first to fourth among rich countries’ healthcare systems
To find out more about privatisation, please click the following pages:
For the cost of private treatments, click here
For NHS privatisation associated with Covid 19 and cronyism, click here
For the Policing Bill 2021, and the clampdown on protest about NHS privatisation, click here
For Questions to NE Councils re NHS privatisation, click here
For info re privatisation in North Tyneside Primary Care (“Livi”), click here
For info re privatisation in other Primary Care locations, click here
For privatisation in A&E at York, click here
For the privatisation of Urgent Care throughout the North East, click here
For privatisation associated with the Health and Care Bill and Integrated Care Systems, click here
For privatisation through wholly-owned subsidiary companies, click here
For sale of NHS land and buildings, click here
For info re the KONPNE powerpoint presentation, click here
For NHS privatisation associated with the 2020 Trade Bill, click here
plus
scroll down this page for:
1: Articles
2: Video and audio
3: Books
4: NHS Bill
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and, in London, some strategically placed and stark messages from @EveryDoctorUK (October 2021)
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1:
Articles
> OpenDemocracy (25th November 2021) Website for booking NHS appointments offers mostly private healthcare
> OpenDemocracy (15th November 2021) Three-quarters of UK public worried more NHS privatisation will damage care
> The Good Law Project (3rd November 2021) EXCLUSIVE: Private hospitals were paid over £1.5 billion during the pandemic
> The New Statesman (30th October 2021) Why we must fight to save the NHS from privatisation
> The Lowdown (20th October 2021) Invest in publicly run services to secure health and social care
> The Guardian (7th October 2021) Private hospitals treated just eight Covid patients a day during pandemic – report
> FierceHealthcare (30th September 2021) Centene to pay more than $71M to settle Medicaid overpayment cases in Illinois, Arkansas
> Open letter from “We Own It” (23rd September 2021) An open letter to Sir Keir Starmer on public ownership
> The Guardian (20th September 2021) Britain’s public sector is paying the price for the government’s consultancy habit
> Byline Times (17th August 2021) THE CORPORATE TAKEOVER OF THE NHS: What Does ‘Privatisation’ of Health Services Really Mean?
> The Guardian (10th August 2021) Predatory financial tactics are putting the very survival of the UK care system at risk
> The Commonwealth Fund (4th August 2021) Mirror, Mirror 2021: Reflecting Poorly: Health Care in the U.S. Compared to Other High-Income Countries
> MSN News (28th July 2021) England is sleepwalking towards a two-tier health system
> 999CallfortheNHS (22nd July 2021) Follow the money…hospital cuts plan, Vote Leave, UK-US trade deal with NHS on the table
> The Guardian (17th July 2021) We got the bill for having a baby – $37,000. Welcome to life in America
> 999 Call for the NHS (16th July 2021) US Health Insurance Provider in prime position to take over new NHS Integrated Care Systems
> The Lowdown (9th July 2021) £10bn NHS community diagnostics contracts attracts firms
> The Lowdown (9th July 2021) Ramsay bid to become largest UK private health supplier
> British Medical Journal (8th July 2021) Covid-19: Billions spent on private contracts should have gone to public services, says people’s inquiry
> The Guardian (30th June 2021) Serco expects 50% jump in profits on back of Covid contracts
> The Lowdown (14th June 2021) History of NHS privatisation (part 6) : NHS money commissions new private hospitals
> The Lowdown (28th May 2021) Virgin given seat on ICS Board
> The Lowdown (28th May 2021) NHS funds siphoned off as beds stand empty
> NHS New Deal (video) (25th May 2021) Big Pharma Monopolies and Patient Healthcare
> The Guardian (3rd May 2021) Non-NHS healthcare providers given £96bn in a decade, says Labour
> The Guardian (3rd May 2021) The NHS is being privatised by stealth under the cover of a pandemic
> “We Own It” video (18th April 2021) One simple solution to cronyism in our NHS
> The Guardian (18th April 2021) NHS England chair faces demands to explain role in Greensill lobbying
> Open Democracy (17th April 2021) What Cameron and the Greensill app tells us about NHS digital privatisation
> The Guardian (13th April 2021) Tories accused of corruption and NHS privatisation by former chief scientist
> BBC News (16th April 2021) Matt Hancock and sister own shares in NHS contract firm
> In These Times (30th March 2021) The UK’s Vaccine Rollout Is the Latest Reminder We Need Universal Healthcare
> The Lowdown (21st February 2021) Under cover of Covid…
> The Mirror (1st April 2021) Former private health firm chief ‘given job’ as No10 advisor
> OpenDemocracy (30th March 2021) We’ve won our lawsuit over Matt Hancock’s £23m NHS data deal with Palantir
> Keep Our NHS Public (19th March 2021) But aren’t all GPs private anyway?
> The Lowdown (24th February 2021) Privatisation: Key Facts
> The Lowdown (21st February 2021) A History of NHS Privatisation (Part 3)
> The Lowdown (19th February 2021) Why does NHS privatisation matter?
> John Furse, London Review of Books (November 2019) The NHS Dismantled click here
> GP Online (18th February 2021) US company’s subsidiary to hold nearly 1% of GP contracts in England
> The Guardian (16th February 2021) My partner is pregnant – and the cost of giving birth in the US is stressing me out
> The Guardian (8th February 2021) NHS dental patients ‘told to go private’ as watchdog warns of crisis
> The Lowdown (5th February 2021) Private health and privatisation cost lives
> The Lowdown (4th February 2021) US company in takeover of network of GP practices
> Tribune (18th January 2021) Amazon Is Coming for Our Healthcare
> CK 999 Call for the NHS (20th January 2021) Routine NHS funding withdrawn from another 31 diagnostic tests, treatments and operations
> We Own It (May 2019) When We Own It – a model for public ownership in the 21st century
> Public Matters (8th October 2019) How much of the NHS in England has already been privatised?
> The Lowdown (6th January 2021) Private hospital group backs out of Covid deal to treat NHS patients
> Caroline Molloy, OpenDemocracy (19th December 2020) The terrifying truth about those deciding the future of the NHS
> CK 999 Call for the NHS (14th December 2020) US companies poised to run NHS following proposed legislation
> The Lowdown (8th December 2020): Vanishing front line beds pose threat to NHS future
> The Lowdown (22nd November 2020): The beginning of the end of Subcos that affect low paid NHS staff?
> The Guardian (30th October 2020): ‘Profit over death’: millions of American diabetics struggle to afford insulin
> NHS Support Federation (October 2020): A snapshot of NHS outsourcing failures
> Byline Times (31st March 2020) Behind Closed Doors Johnson and his Cabinet Do Not Applaud the NHS – They Ideologically Oppose It
> Information from “We Own It” (2020) is here: https://weownit.org.uk/public-ownership/nhs
> Recent article from “The Lowdown” (2020): https://lowdownnhs.info/private-providers/revealed-nhs-commissioners-high-spend-on-non-nhs-care-providers
> Staff morale / staff shortages in the NE (19th Nov 2019): True picture of the NHS in the North East – bosses say thousands of vacancies putting patients at risk
> The “Open Democracy” (September 2017) article by Professor Allyson Pollock on the need to legislate to reinstate the NHS is here.
> National report from The Centre for Health and the Public Interest; this report was published in April 2015, but still provides some important information and pointers for future action The Contracting NHS: Can the NHS Handle the Outsourcing of Clinical Services?
>> Article on the Health and Social Care Act 2012 (June 2013) Tritter and Koivusalo – Undermining patient and public engagement and limiting its impact – the consequences of the HSC Act 2012 on collective patient and public involvement
>> Guardian article on Health and Social Care Act 2012 (March 2013) Youssef El-Gingihy – Health Act means the death of the NHS as we know it
Privatisation in the North East
> Privatisation in 111, On Call and Urgent Care; Northern Doctors -> Vocare -> Totally www.vocare.org.uk/docs/Vocare%20RNS%20announcement.pdf
http://999callfornhs.org.uk/nhs-detectives-2018/4593771080
and click here for our webpage Privatisation of Urgent Care
> Privatisation in Primary Care in North Tyneside
click here for an update regarding the Swedish company “Livi” in North Tyneside
2:
Video and audio
> British people guess how much health care costs in the US – a video by Waleed Shahid
> Privatising the NHS – A View from the Top (Public Matters, December 2020)
> Hear Stephen Fry in “Boris and Trumps Deadliest Trick” (July 2019)
Are Johnson and Trump trying to privatise the NHS? Which healthcare system is most likely to save you? Killer facts are hidden by carefully constructed illusions…..click here
> “The dismantling of our NHS and why we need an NHS Bill to reinstate it“ (Newcastle University, October 2017)
Recorded at Newcastle University in October 2017, Professor Pollock outlines the ins and outs of health policy over the past twenty years, culminating in the Accountable Care Systems of today – an American import which is clearly orientated to a private health takeover. Our NHS was the model for the rest of the world in 1948 – low cost, efficient and universal – and many European countries followed our health care model. We now need to reinstate it to public ownership. Listen to the audio recording here.
> “Post-election reflections on the fate of the NHS in England and health and social care services in the North East“ (Newcastle-upon-Tyne, July 2017)
Professor Allyson Pollock, in this Public Lecture and Q&A session, reviews past and current developments in health provision and provides insight into ways forward for all who support and care for the NHS. Watch the video here.
> “Privatisation of the NHS“ (April 2014)
Watch this TED talk on the Privatisation of the NHS by Professor Allyson Pollock (18 minutes)
> United Voices (August 2020)
Personal stories of one group of cleaners, caterers and porters from St Mary’s Hospital in London – this is an inspiring story of resistance. This 20 min film charts their first strike through to an influential victory that benefits outsourced workers across five other hospitals. Click here
> See this short video Privatising the NHS from We Own It (2020)
3:
Books
Click here for information
Also – read the excellent “We Own It” report When We Own It – a model for public ownership in the 21st Century
(plus a two page summary is here )
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4:
THE NHS BILL
The NHS in England is being dismantled and only a change to the law can stop the damage
Changes in the law (esp Health and Social Care Act 2012) have brought about the dismantling of the NHS over recent years – only a change in the law can re-establish it as a publicly owned and publicly provided National Health Service, which includes the governments duty to provide the key NHS services. Legislation is needed to re-establish these principles of the NHS.
The NHS Bill has been presented to Parliament on a number of occasions, but it has not received the necessary support for enactment.
Details of the most recent Bill are here: http://www.nhsbillnow.org/eleanor-smiths-nhs-bill-published-in-full/
As part of the KONPNE anti-privatisation exhibition in the summer of 2018, we invited all 22 North East MPs to send us a one-liner statement about where they stood regarding the NHS Bill ….some positive responses, some surprising responses (reading between the lines) and (sadly / interestingly) no responses from some….even though they are our elected representatives….
Click konpne st thomas exhibition mp quotes june 2018 to find out what your MP did (or didn’t) say at that time, and whether s/he had signed up…..We have added the line “Supporter of the NHS Reinstatement Bill” to those 10 MPs who have already signed up to the Bill (according to the www.nhsbillnow.org website)
More information? Read more about the past content of the NHS Bill here and check out the NHS Bill website, facebook and twitter
…and will this be your future “discharge note”?
For those who want to end the #nhs – do you really want to deal with this?
konpnortheast.com 