Covid 19 and NHS privatisation
Scroll down this page for:
1: Stop the privatised test and trace chaos – email now
2: Scrap the contracts for Seco and Sitel – sign the “We Own It” petition
3: Private Test and Trace is failing – sign the “Change.Org” petition
4: Public Health Champions vs Matt Hancock – watch the video
5: Hiding behind a Logo
6: Peoples Covid Inquiry
7: Peoples Assembly
8: “The Pandemic and Privatisation” – Conference video recording and briefing pack from “Health Campaigns Together”
9: Links
…and a sobering note from across the Atlantic: In NHS hospitals across the UK right now there are hundreds of patients who are in an ICU bed – critically ill with COVID. For which there will be no charge. #loveyourNHS
Unlike the USA.
1:
Stop the privatised test and trace chaos
Privatised test and trace has failed our communities.
The government has suggested that councils are likely to get bigger roles in contact tracing, but we know that local public health teams should be doing ALL contact tracing, not failing private companies.
This would be a system the British public could have faith in.
Matt Hancock isn’t budging. We need you to email these key figures in government with responsibilities to scrutinise health policy (Hunt), test and trace (Clark), and outsourcing (Gove) TODAY!
Click here for a straight-forward pro forma letter – it will take you 2 minutes only…but could protect the NHS for a lifetime
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2:
Sign the petition: Scrap the contracts for Serco & Sitel
Privatised track and trace has been a 2020 disaster that is costing lives.
It’s time to put local public health teams in charge of the whole system. They have the tools and the local knowledge they need to do this vital work before any second wave this winter. Now they need the money. Hancock needs to scrap Serco and Sitels failed contracts now instead of renewing them. The government must give the £528 million allocated for these contract extension to local authorities and Public Health England teams instead.
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3:
Sign the petition: Private Test and Trace is failing – hand it back to the NHS
‘NHS test and trace’ is not run by the NHS. The testing side is run by private companies such as Deloitte, and it’s clear that it is failing. A partnership between local authorities and public health, primary care and NHS labs is needed to ensure a successful testing system. Please sign this petition calling for testing to be rooted within NHS structures and given the necessary investment.
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4:
Public Health Champions vs Matt Hancock
…….Watch the video here
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5:
Hiding behind a logo…..
25th September 2020: Letter in todays Metro – We need to fix test and trace. Local public health teams and our NHS must be put back in charge of testing and contact tracing…and a clear message from KONP North East and @keepnhspublic and @We_OwnIt: You’re hiding behind a logo @MattHancock
6:
“PEOPLE’S COVID INQUIRY”: Hosted throughout the Spring and early summer 2021 by national KONP – because clarity and answers are needed NOW
We’re holding our People’s Covid Inquiry now because we don’t think it’s too soon to start learning lessons about this crisis, especially while so many people are still dying from Covid-19. We believe this level of deaths was avoidable. We all deserve to know how and why this happened” – KONP
“The People’s Covid Inquiry is important because over a 100,000 lives have been lost, many families left struggling and bereft, and honest answers are needed to understand why this tragedy has occurred” – Professor Neena Modi
Session details:
SESSION 1 – Took place on Wednesday 24 February: click HERE to watch Session 1
Covid-19: How well prepared was the NHS?
In Session 1: The People’s Covid Inquiry asked how has policy over the last decade impacted on the resilience of our NHS, social care system and public health systems and its preparedness for the coronavirus pandemic whilst delivering continuity of core NHS services?
SESSION 2 – Took place on Wednesday 10 March: click HERE to watch Session 2
How did the Government respond?
In Session 2: What strategies did the Government employ to bring the virus under control and were they effective? Did it pay due regard to scientific evidence and public health expertise? Was it influenced by ‘lockdown sceptics’. Were there other strategies the Government could have adopted that would have had better outcomes?
SESSION 3 – Took place on Wednesday 24 March: click HERE to watch SESSION 3
Is ‘Zero Covid’ possible?
In Session 3: Amid increasing criticism of the UK Government for its handling of the pandemic and parallel calls from civil society for the adoption of a ‘Zero Covid’ strategy, our inquiry asks: what does ‘Zero Covid’ mean and is it possible, or has the Government really done the best it can? Is it possible to protect the population and protect the economy at the same time? Did the prospect of an effective vaccine side-line effective test, trace and isolate?
SESSION 4 – Took place on Wednesday 7th April: click HERE to watch SESSION 4
Impact on the population 1
In Session 4: Over 140,000 people have now died in the UK of Covid-19. Shockingly, six in ten people who have died have been disabled, and more than 35,000 people have died in care homes. Social care has been stretched to breaking point, and heavy care responsibilities have fallen upon families and loved ones, invariably falling most heavily on women.
Was this scale of death, long-term illness and distress inevitable? Why were Covid-positive patients discharged into care homes on three separate occasions? Was the UK social care sector well-equipped to meet the pandemic, and could nothing more have been done to enable social care workers to protect both themselves and those depending on their care?
SESSION 5 – Took place on Wednesday 21 April: click HERE to watch SESSION 5
Impact on frontline staff & key workers
In Session 5: It became very clear at the outset of the pandemic that the UK Government needed to radically reappraise the roles of key workers in society. Our inquiry asks: were the roles of key workers and the risks they faced understood; and were they supported and protected? Were employment conditions, in-work poverty and health and safety at work given adequate consideration by the Government?
SESSION 6 – Took place on Wednesday 5 May: click HERE to watch SESSION 6
Inequalities & discrimination
In Session 6: The devastating differential impact of Covid and the pandemic on BAME people came as a shock but not really a surprise. Even prior to the pandemic there was strong evidence that racism, unequal education, job and economic opportunities, housing and access to healthcare affected the health of people in BAME communities unequally. The Covid pandemic and the role of key workers who carried on working, who could not work at home, and who kept the transport, health, and other services going, compounded all of these issues for BAME people and were reflected in the illness and death rate.
The impact of Covid has fallen differentially on women in many important ways. Our inquiry asks: was there any serious appraisal of risk for sections of our society who experience inequalities and discrimination? What has the outcome been and how has the Government responded?
SESSION 7 – Took place on Wednesday 19 May: click HERE to watch SESSION 7
Privatisation of the Public’s Health
A striking feature of the government’s pandemic response has been contracting out Covid related services to private companies. This has been without the usual tendering processes and any transparency around contract details including costs. Despite a number of contracts failing spectacularly (e.g. NHS Test and Trace) and some pre-Covid contracts such as NHS Logistics being exposed as wholly inadequate, public contract funding has been differentially awarded to Conservative party donors and close contacts.
SESSION 8 – Took place on Wednesday 2 June: click HERE to watch SESSION 8
Impact on the population 2
This session looks at the wellbeing of the population during the pandemic, with a focus on the welfare and mental health needs of NHS and frontline staff, families and young people. The Government’s decisions and how it communicated them to the public have had a major impact on the public’s responses, wellbeing and safety. Frequently, sections of the public have been blamed for their responses. We will ask if this was fair.
SESSION 9 – Took place on Wednesday 16th June: click HERE to watch SESSION 9
The pandemic continues – what must happen now?
This concluding session takes an overview: as the Delta variant spreads in Britain, and the pandemic rages across the world, with billions unprotected by vaccine, there are important questions of national and international consequence: a people’s vaccine with technology shared and free from patents, governance around the vaccination programme; why has Government policy been in conflict with national trade unions like the NEU and what is the role of a trade union in the pandemic; consistent with previous sessions, the importance of listening and responding to citizens such as Bereaved Families for Justice; Inquiry witnesses have been highly critical of the way national government by-passed Local Authorities and Public Health: what could local government do and, most important, what must happen now?; and questions from a legal standpoint on accountability facing the Government re: legal and statutory compliance.
The People’s Covid Inquiry website
forms an easily accessible repository for written evidence and recordings of the meetings together with additional video testimonials. We also catalogue work already done by others, such as indie-SAGE, Kings Fund, Amnesty, National Audit Office, etc. Our own online survey initiative has been launched to facilitate the widest possible public participation. Once all online sessions and other evidence gathering initiatives have been completed, we will produce a summary making a series of clear recommendations about what is needed to make sure the NHS is both repaired and strengthened for the future. We will share our findings and recommendations widely through all available channels, and make sure our evidence is a valuable resource available to others.
for more info at The People’s Covid Inquiry website
&
to read the final report from the Inquiry (1st December 2021)
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7:
“Making Sense of the Crisis”: an excellent series of 20 virtual meetings, each with expert speakers, hosted by The Peoples Assembly.
For the complete playlist of meetings click here
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8:
The Pandemic and Privatisation – “Health Campaigns Together” Conference video recording and briefing pack
The NHS faces its most serious threat ever as ministers use the cover of the pandemic to push through far-reaching changes. Billions have been frittered away on inefficient and ineffective private contractors rather than investing in the NHS and public health* Huge and continuing scandals in the allocation of PPE contracts to “fast-tracked” neighbours and cronies of ministers* Private management consultants paid up to £7,000 per day – and steering investment to contractors, not the NHS* £12bn spent on privatised Test and trace systems that are a byword for failure* Tens of millions wasted on new ‘lighthouse’ laboratories and fully privatised ‘megalabs’ that bypass NHS laboratories* Billions spent hiring private hospitals, with up to £10 billion more in next 4 years while thousands of NHS beds lie empty.
Unprecedented attacks need new ways of fighting back. This Conference took place on 25th February 2021 and to view the video (discussing how we can best respond to and beat back this new wave of privatisation) and for the Conference briefing pack, click below
for Conference video
and
for Conference briefing pack
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LINKS:
Post-Pandemic
Reports and Inquiry
National KONP Coronavirus Hub – information and statement
National “Keep Our NHS Public”have built a webpage to help our members and supporters stay up to date with our response to the pandemic. This will be updated regularly and will be used to host coverage of the crisis by Keep Our NHS Public and its members.
Cost of Covid
Joint report sets out the full scale of the extra running costs now needed by the NHS in England in light of the pandemic.
George Monbiot – The Guardian (21st October 2020)
Sir David King, former Chief Scientist: Using Covid to sell off the health service by stealth
Richard Horton, Editor, The Lancet (12th September 2020)
“This Government is directly responsible for tens of thousands of citizens deaths” and we have witnessed “the worst episode of government and ministerial misconduct”.
Mishandling of the pandemic
Privatised and Unprepared – the NHS Supply Chain (2020)
The report from University of Greenwich and We Own It is here
plus…. opportunistic, unreported deals..
Test and Trace
Twitter (16th March 2021): Rachel Reeves MP and Jon Ashworth write to Health Secretary re: contact tracing system Click here
George Monbiot: “People ask me, “is this a cockup or a conspiracy?”. The correct answer is both. The government is using the pandemic to shift the boundaries between public and private provision, restructure public health and pass lucrative contracts to poorly qualified private companies. The inevitable result is a galactic cockup. This is what you get from a government that values money above human life”.
Watch this video from Dr Hosnieh Djafari-Marbini and “We Own It” (21st October 2020)
The letter from North East Councillors to the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for health is here (scroll to 26th August) and the Chronicle report is here
See photos and a KONPNE video taken in Newcastle on the NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION ON TRACK AND TRACE CONTRACTS here (scroll to 18th August)
Privatising test and trace has been a disaster. Paying private companies to run the test and trace system has cost eleven times as much as it cost to send a Rover to Mars. Courtesy of @PrivateEyeNews
Covid-19 Testing Laboratories and privatisation
Many thanks to a member of KONPNE for this overview on developments regarding Testing Labs – crystal clear that every aspect of the Governments response to Covid-19 is typified by privatisation. Read the article on our blog here
Covid testing explained: bold promises and moonshots
Outsourced and undermined – the Covid 19 windfall for private providers (British Medical Association, 8th September 2020)
The private sector has been the winner in the Government’s response to COVID-19 in England – but why, given the growing and predictable litany of mistakes it has made? Peter Blackburn reports here
PPE Supplier
The above article reports a disgrace – a total lack of respect to staff working on the front line and putting their lives at risk
June 2021: We need a Government who support the NHS and respect its staff, who can be trusted in crisis and who are honest.Hancocks claim re PPE is no more than a blatant lie and, tragically, events throughout 2020 have clearly demonstrated this. The statement to the health select committee is a disgrace.
Health data
My Little Crony – A visualization of the connections between Tory politicians and companies being awarded government contracts during the pandemic based on a wide range of investigative reporting
Cronyism
The Citizens @allthecitizens Feb 5
“We’ve found eight Tory donors that, collectively, have won £881m in 35 Covid19 UK gov contracts. Combined they’ve donated £8.2m to the Tories. So, for every £1 donated, they’ve averaged a return of £110 from contracts won. The golden line of cronyism. Exclusive with @BylineTimes”
KONP / NHS Staff Voices video discussion (December 2020) Covid and Cronyism
Structural racism led to worse Covid impact on BAME groups – report
The use of private hospitals
The impact of privatising vital services
Covid, Privatisation and Underfunding:
Great range of speakers in this webinar, including Jude Letham (Co-ordinator, KONPNE), Martin Gannon (Leader, Gateshead Council), Keir Howe (GMB Northern Region NHS lead), Stacey Richardson (NHS Staff Nurse) and Dr George Rae (North Tyneside GP and BMA Chair). Chaired by Tony Dowling, North East Peoples Assembly.
All speakers confirmed the need to keep our NHS public and to stop the outsourcing – it is clear that Covid-19 has thrown a light on the ongoing underfunding and privatisation by stealth of our NHS.
Recorded 13th October 2020: click here to watch
The need to build capacity in our public health system
An excellent overview and briefing from Oxfordshire KONP (February 2021) is here
The Independent Sage
‘We are following the science’ is the message the British public have been hearing from government since COVID-19 mitigating measures began. It says it is following the advice of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE). But the activities of the committee have been kept secret and excluded from scrutiny by the public or wider scientific community.
In response, on Monday May 4, the Independent SAGE convened as a group of preeminent experts from the UK and around the world. The aim of the Independent SAGE was and is to provide robust, independent advice to HM Government with the purpose of helping the UK navigate COVID-19 whilst minimising fatalities.
Covid 19 and the way forward
For a very interesting 30 minute discussion between Professor Allyson Pollock (Health campaigner and Newcastle University) and Dr John Lister (Co-chair KONP and Coventry University), please click here (….skip over the initial countdown on the recording)
Whilst this was recorded to highlight the issues covered in John Pilger’s film The Dirty War on the NHS, much of the discussion centres around Covid 19 and the way forward. Crucial viewing, highly recommended.
2020 Vision for a post-Covid NHS, published by “Health Campaigns Together” and “Keep Our NHS Public” (July 2020)
Click HCT KONP 2020 Rescue Plan to access the document, plus additional background information is here
konpnortheast.com 