OnTheWight always welcomes a Letter to the Editor to share with our readers – unsurprisingly they don’t always reflect the views of this publication. If you have something you’d like to share, get in touch and of course, your considered comments are welcome below.
This from Maggie Nelmes, Ventnor. Ed
Last week, the Government announced what it refers to as “the biggest public consultation in the history of the NHS”.
But if this has raised your hopes of getting the NHS that you dreamed of, think again. Wes Streeting’s (pictured left) department has already made the big decisions, together with some well-resourced corporate lobbyists.
Streeting has promised NHS investment and reform, but where that investment comes from, and what kind of reform he has in mind, are already setting alarm bells ringing.
Donations from private health groups
According to campaign group Good Law Project’s research:
“More than 60% of the registered donations accepted by the health secretary since he entered parliament in 2015 has come from companies and individuals linked to private health.”
Having received a total of £311,400 from these companies and individuals, it is hardly surprising that Streeting is vigorously advocating the use of private healthcare to bring down NHS waiting lists.
Public’s desires poles apart from plans
When campaign group Just Treatment consulted NHS patients in every constituency of the UK about their hoped-for future of the NHS, the resulting vision was the NHS New Deal, a first-class, publicly-owned service.
Though poll after poll confirmed that a reversal of successive Tory governments’ ‘privatisation by stealth’ is what the vast majority of the British public want, this is poles apart from what the Government is planning.
Stand up to Wes Streeting
The faint-hearted may give up in despair, but we campaigners believe in fighting for our rights. Just Treatment advises us to stand up to Wes Streeting, by taking part in the Consultation.
Here’s why:
“Sometimes an overwhelming outcry can shift the government – or at least make it more difficult for them to carry on regardless in the face of significant public opposition showing up in their survey responses. And, this is a chance for ordinary NHS users to speak honestly about their experiences with the health service – something that does not happen enough.
“We know that people and groups opposed to the NHS as a fully public service will be responding to this survey with ideas that encourage the further destruction of our health service – so we think it’s right that as many of our supporters, and the NHS’ supporters add their voice.”
What is the purpose of the Big NHS Consultation?
This online survey is supposed to feed into the new ten-year plan for the NHS, which the Government will publish early next year. Its stated goal is to hear the experiences and ideas of patients and staff on what needs to change to fix the NHS.
It invites us to give our views on the Government’s three main themes for NHS reform: moving care out of hospitals into the community; making better use of technology; and a greater emphasis on prevention. And it gives us the opportunity to submit our ideas on how to improve the NHS.
“Talk honestly about what improvements you want to see happen”
Just Treatment advises us to answer honestly.
“We hear heartbreaking stories every week about people who have been let down by the NHS. It is important those voices get heard in this process.
“However, most people who contact us to talk about the difficulties they’ve faced are at pains to point out that they still love the NHS, and don’t blame the staff. It’s important to say that too.
“Talk honestly about what improvements you want to see happen with the NHS, and how you want your care delivered.”
What are Just Treatment’s main concerns about the Government’s plans for the NHS?
- The NHS can’t deliver the care we all need and deserve without a huge increase in funding. It was deprived of £362bn of funds through many years of Tory austerity, and needs at least an extra 5.5% above-inflation budget increase every year.
- The private sector freeloads on the NHS, by stealing its staff and cherry-picking the easiest, most profitable care. There is strong evidence that private care leads to worse care and more deaths. Handing more NHS contracts over to the private sector so that taxpayers’ money goes into the pockets of corporate execs will keep on weakening our universal health service until it collapses. There is no evidence to support privatisation. It is politically ideological and must be reversed.
- An increased focus on prevention is good, but only through proven public health interventions, not through expensive, unproven products from big pharma and health tech firms that put the blame for poor health on individuals, rather than on our social conditions, the economy, and the government responsible for setting those policies.
- The NHS desperately needs improved tech, but not monopolist spy-tech firms controlling our health data; big pharma getting free access to our information; and snake-oil AI firms swallowing funds that should be invested in frontline care. We need the government to rethink its un-critical love-in with big pharma and big tech, before it ends up handing them the keys to the whole of the NHS.
Head over to the consultation to get started.
