My views in the NHS have caused a bit of a stir so allow me to respond to some common themes.
Yes I'm a Labour party activist! Well spotted! One of the reasons I joined the Labour party was that as someone working in the NHS I could see what the Conservatives were doing to it.
Yes PFI was a terrible idea for which Labour is rightly ashamed. But the Labour Party has changed since New Labour. A Labour government will take these debts off the NHS and deal with them. The Tories have had years and done nothing to address the problem.
The argument that the NHS is stuffed full of expensive managers is still doing the rounds and it's true that the internal market requires lots of managers. So it should be renationalised. Almost all NHS managers were sacked by the Conservatives so any we have now are down to them
Yes NHS funding was "ring fenced" and has even has risen a little but not enough to keep pace with expected increases in need. The NHS is also hit by any cuts to social care, housing, public health, benefits and education among others.
And the NHS is being privatised.
Services and back room functions are being outsourced to for profit private companies in mass.
Services are being cut from NHS provision so patients have to pay for them.
Non profits are being transformed into for profit organisations.
Services and back room functions are being outsourced to for profit private companies in mass.
Services are being cut from NHS provision so patients have to pay for them.
Non profits are being transformed into for profit organisations.
on! Damn my giant thumbs!
