The NHS Choir’s single, ‘A Bridge Over You’ (based on the Simon & Garfunkel hit, Bridge Over Troubled Water) is fighting with Justin Bieber’s release, ‘Love Yourself’ , for the Christmas No 1 slot.
The NHS Choir is composed of staff from Lewisham and Greenwich Hospitals. Bieber’s single is reportedly around 3,000 sales ahead. It would be an immense moral victory to see the NHS Choir take the prize – one for the NHS. Please, if you haven’t already, buy this song of hope for our NHS.
A major blow against a scheme that would have seen NHS services slashed in Shropshire was made on 10 May, as local CCGs’ ‘Future Fit‘ plans were decisively defeated – thanks to the long-standing efforts of local campaigners, who fought long and hard together to gain this victory.
Gill George, Chair of Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Defend Our NHS, was jubilant:
“Around 80 members of the public went to an ‘Extraordinary Joint CCG Board Meeting’ where health bosses were planning to sign off the blueprint for closing an A&E. The meeting, at Shrewsbury Town Football Club, was packed. People stood at the back of the room because there weren’t enough chairs.
“And what happened? The Board of Shropshire CCG voted against its Chair and Accountable Officer, and rejected the document before them, that would have closed an A&E, downgraded a hospital, and shifted a lot of hospital activity out into the community, for GPs or the Community Trust to pick up – without providing the money and staff to do the extra work.
“To have a CCG Board overturn its own Chair and Accountable Officer and reject a cuts and closure plan that has been the accepted wisdom for 2½ years – that’s unprecedented. That just doesn’t happen. This is a massive blow to the appalling ‘Future Fit’ project.
“Congratulations are due to the Board members for taking their brave and principled decision. Huge credit goes too to the Shropshire Local Medical Committee – the body representing local GPs. They met with Accountable Officer David Evans yesterday afternoon, probably with some vigorous arm twisting going on. Their decision to stand firm and reject the Strategic Outline Case for a second time was tremendous, and the report of this yesterday had a powerful impact on the meeting.
“However, behind these things lies an influential campaign! Today, every activist who has played a part in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin Defend Our NHS should be very, very proud. This is a victory for the NHS, but it’s been won by us.
“We worked hard for Tuesday’s meeting. Actually an extraordinary and unprecedented victory! It was an amazing meeting. We watched their side crumble in front of us.
We don’t know what’s going to happen next, but they’re in a catastrophic mess. We, on the other hand, seem to be going from strength to strength just now. Exciting times.”
This Shropshire reprieve tells us several things. First, that we are right. These schemes are pouring their poison all over the NHS, masquerading as “transformation” plans. They are nothing of the sort; they are DE-formation plans, stripping apart the NHS for the private health vultures and making yet more cuts to services. They deserve to be as thoroughly killed off everywhere as they were in Shropshire. Second – and thank you, Gill and all her fellow campaigners – WE CAN WIN. This CAN be done. And this is how it will happen, until the law can change. One battle, one locality, one sneaky lie fought against at a time. But we can do it. We must. Join us and stop them, now.
[Photo: Royal Society Of Medicine]
Professor Stephen Hawking gave a wonderful speech at the Royal Society of Medicine on Saturday 19 August. The evening beforehand, Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt attacked the pre-released speech in ignorant fashion on Twitter, press and later in The Telegraph accusing Hawking of ‘pernicious falsehood’.
Stung by the personal and shallow response from this top government minister, Hawking has replied with a clinical demolition of Hunt in an Opinion piece in The Guardian 25 August 2017 entitled ‘Jeremy Hunt can attack me all he wants – but he is wrong to say the NHS is working’.
‘NHS in England is undergoing a complete reorganisation into 44 regions with the aim of each being run as an “accountable care organisation” (ACO). An Aco is a variant of a type of US system called a health maintenance organisation in which all services are provided in a network of hospitals and clinics all run by the HMO company. It is reasonable to expect the powerful US HMO companies such as Kaiser Permanente and UnitedHealth will be bidding for the huge contracts to run these ACOs when they go out to international tender.’
‘The NHS is political, but not necessarily party political. I am a Labour supporter but acknowledge that privatisation increased under Labour governments in the past. The question is whether democracy can prevail and the public can make its demands for proper funding and public provision undeniable by any government.’
Read Hawking’s piece: it is a brilliant analysis of where the NHS is under current government policies, why the policies are wrong and dangerous and why relying on real evidence is so crucial to political integrity.
KONP says:
“Congratulations to the organisers of the ‘Talk NHS’ – Discourse in collaboration with the RSM. The day was an excellent debate on the NHS with a well-informed exchange of views from an panel of speakers important in its breadth and from a passionate audience committed to the survival and restoration of a fully public NHS.”
See more about KONP’s aims here
Tony O’Sullivan
[Photo: Telegraph]
Prior to Hawking’s Opinion article today, here is a record of press and media coverage.
Guardian (exclusive) https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/aug/18/stephen-hawking-blames-tory-politicians-for-damaging-nhs
Guardian Hawking opinion piece https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/18/nhs-scientist-stephen-hawking
Radio4 Today show (top headlines) Episode Link http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0923vsf
BBC Online “Hawking worried about the future of the NHS” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-40967309
Independent “Hawking attacks the Tories for moving towards privatising NHS” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/stephen-hawking-tories-conservatives-nhs-theresa-may-jeremy-hunt-funding-a7901176.html
Independent “Hunt says Hawking is wrong” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/stephen-hawking-jeremy-hunt-scientific-nhs-reform-weekend-tories-a7901586.html
Independent “Hunt launches fresh attack on Hawking” http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jeremy-hunt-stephen-hawking-twitter-7-day-nhs-scientific-evidence-a7902511.html
Guardian “Hunt accuses Hawking of ‘pernicious falsehood’ ” https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/aug/19/jeremy-hunt-says-stephen-hawking-is-wrong-on-the-nhs
Sky “Hunt in fresh attack on Hawking” http://news.sky.com/story/jeremy-hunt-in-fresh-attack-on-stephen-hawking-over-nhs-10996309
Sky “Don’t Insult a National Treasure”
http://news.sky.com/story/lessons-for-jeremy-hunt-dont-insult-national-treasure-hawking-10997154
Huffington Post “Hunt spars with Hawking” http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/jeremy-hunt-stephen-hawking-nhs_uk_59981ecde4b01f6e801ee228
Evening Standard “Hunt to Hawking: you’re wrong” https://www.standard.co.uk/news/health/jeremy-hunt-tells-professor-stephen-hawking-youre-wrong-about-scientific-research-behind-nhs-reform-a3615381.html
Evening Standard “Hunt attacks Hawking pernicious falsehood” https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/stephen-hawking-jeremy-hunt-attacks-physicists-pernicious-falsehood-in-nhs-row-a3615551.html
Telegraph “Hunt mocked for trying to school Hawking” http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/19/jeremy-hunt-twitter-row-stephen-hawking/
Times “Hawking NHS crisis due to ‘abuse’ of evidence” https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/stephen-hawking-says-nhs-in-crisis-due-to-abuse-of-research-7jcqbgtg5
City AM “Hunt hits back at Hawking” http://www.cityam.com/270519/jeremy-hunt-hits-back-stephen-hawking-over-nhs-after
BBC “I wouldn’t be here without the NHS” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/health-40990288/stephen-hawking-i-wouldn-t-be-here-without-the-nhs
Newsthump (news satire) http://newsthump.com/2017/08/19/we-dont-listen-to-people-in-wheelchairs-tories-tell-stephen-hawking/
Daily Mash (news satire) http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/science-technology/hawking-discovers-new-super-dense-black-hole-20170819134289
Belfast Telegraph “Hunt says Hawking is wrong” http://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/jeremy-hunt-says-stephen-hawking-is-wrong-on-scientific-basis-of-nhs-reform-36048189.html
The Sun “Hunt attacks Hawking” https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/politics/4280839/health-secretary-jeremy-hunt-blasted-stephen-hawking-nhs-claims/
MailOnline “Hawking says NHS in crisis” http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4804682/Stephen-Hawking-attacks-Tories-NHS.html
Metro “Hunt accuses Hawking of wrecking his beloved NHS” http://metro.co.uk/2017/08/18/stephen-hawking-accuses-tories-of-wrecking-his-beloved-nhs-since-2010-6863386/
Express “Wrong! Hunt takes on Hawking” http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/843235/Professor-Stephen-Hawking-NHS-Health-Secretary-Jeremy-Hunt-Twitter
Channel 4 News “Hawking attacks conservatives over NHS fears” https://www.channel4.com/news/stephen-hawking-attacks-conservatives-over-nhs-fears
ITV “Hunt denies Hawking claims” http://www.itv.com/news/2017-08-19/hunt-denies-hawkings-claims-he-cherry-picked-research-to-justify-nhs-reforms/
PoliticsHome “Hunt accuses Hawk https://www.politicshome.com/news/uk/health-and-care/nhs/news/88369/jeremy-hunt-accuses-stephen-hawking-pernicious-falsehood-nhs”
Telegraph – Hunt opinion piece
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/08/19/stephen-hawking-hero-no-evidence-support-claims-nhs-conservatives/
Reuters https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-britain-health-hawking-idUKKCN1AZ08F?il=0
LBC/Owen Jones http://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/owen-jones/owen-jones-the-nhs-is-our-proudest-institution-but/
LBC/Beverley Turner http://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/beverley-turner/beverley-turner-gives-jeremy-hunt-both-barrels-in/
Chicago Tribune, Ledger Enquirer, The Herald (AP story), Charlotte Observer, Settle Times & many other US state papers
Gulf Times http://m.gulf-times.com/story/560762/Hawking-blames-UK-govt-for-NHS-crisis
IB Times http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/stephen-hawking-attacks-conservatives-underfunding-privatising-nhs-1635733
Evolve Politics https://evolvepolitics.com/jeremy-hunt-literally-just-said-stephen-hawking-wrong-scientific-basis-nhs-reform/
Varsity “Hawking says Tories to blame for NHS crisis” https://www.varsity.co.uk/news/13400
The Poke http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2017/08/19/jeremy-hunt-said-stephen-hawking-got-science-wrong/
Cambridge News “Hawking says Conservatives are to blame for NHS crisis” http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/stephen-hawking-nhs-crisis-conservatives-13498706
40+ radio
Source: @drbenwhite Bring Back The NHS
On the 25th July KONP members from Islington, Lambeth and Save Lewisham Hospital Campaign accompanied members of We Own It in delivering their petition to keep NHS Professionals public to the Department of Health, it had 16,400 signatures.
We Own It (with support from Keep Our NHS Public and Unison, amongst others) led a campaign to stop its privatisation and prompted referral to the National Audit Office by Justin Madders, the Labour Party Shadow Health Minister.
Thanks to them and the campaigning efforts of many groups and individuals across the country the Department of Health have dropped the plans to privatise the employment agency, commenting that NHS Professionals will stay “wholly in public ownership”
Proof that campaigning works!
Join us or donate and help us continue the work to stop NHS privatisation.
Media Articles reporting on the good news
The Guardian
The Financial Times
The Independent
NHE – National Health Executive
Nursing Times
See KONP’s previous post Audit Office asked to investigate NHS Professionals sale
See anti-privatisation organisation: www.weownit.org.uk
Momentous progress was made at the Labour Party Conference on Tuesday 26 September
An excellent motion was passed including a robust call for a defence of the NHS in England now and a move to reinstate it ‘as per the NHS Bill (2016-17)’. (See the motion in full)
Alex Scott-Samuel of the Socialist Health Association and Doctors For The NHS proposed ‘Composite 8: The NHS’ very movingly (speech) and the motion was seconded by Sue Richards of Islington CLP (speech). Both are members of Keep Our NHS Public. The motion was carried unanimously.
Scott-Samuel thanked Jon Ashworth for his speech prior to the motion. He went on to name accountable care systems and ACOs as a dangerous structure for healthcare, based on the American model, which will enforce capping of damaging cut budgets and will lead to restricted access to a diminished range of services – the inevitable result of the imposed, disastrous £22bn of underfunding of the annual NHS budget by 2020/21.
Sue Richards reminded Jon Ashworth, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Conference that this was one year on from conference committing to reinstating the NHS fully – abolishing the internal and external market forces, but that pledge had not materialised in shadow team policy, including at conference.
The motion goes further. It opposes the sell-off of £5bn of NHS estate planned under the Naylor Review adopted by the Conservatives. Under the terms of this motion, the 2012 Health & Social Care Act would be replaced by legislation restoring a universal and comprehensive fully publicly funded, owned and provided NHS restoring full duties to the Secretary of State. This reaffirmed the position the 2016 conference voted for, but which had not been adopted by the Shadow team.
On Sunday 17 September, Jeremy Corbyn stated his commitment on the Andrew Marr Show that the Labour Party would adopt conference-agreed policy direction. If this practice is realised, then we could be on the cusp of a dramatic strengthening of commitment from Labour – confident as they are in predicting they will be the next government – to restoring the NHS to its former vision. 
The policy as agreed would end the era of privatisation, and of internal or external markets, would end use of new PFI contracts and bring back into the NHS’ the current PFIs used to extract profits from NHS core funding and undermining the stablility of so many NHS hospitals and trusts. and deliberate defunding of the NHS. There is also the commitment to reinstating NHS student bursaries and an end to the pay cap impoverishing and demoralising the 1.3 million NHS staff. The end to the ideological defunding of the NHS will require greater level of funding than is currently being recognised.
Thank you to all the campaigners – keep up the work
Hard work and great commitment went in to achieving the adoption of this motion by NHS campaigners in the Labour Party – we thank you.
And related initiatives have been important in helping to strengthen the mood for change included the #NHSTakeback pledge and Allyson Pollock’s article in OurNHS on Labour’s manifesto – those involved include We Own It, the Campaign for NHS Reinstatement Bill, Keep Our NHS Public, Health Campaigns Together, OurNHS, Socialist Health Association, NHS Support Federation, Doctors for the NHS, Momentum, 999 and others.
It is important to follow up these important developments in discussions with the Labour shadow team and in campaigning up and down the land.
#NHSTakeback was launched 16 September
So far 17 MPs have pledged to support this great new initiative pledge (latest).
It is based on the NHS Reinstatement Bill – read more here.
And the arguments behind the We Own It-initiated 5-point pledge, laid out the day before the crucial debate (here) are so important.
Tony O’Sullivan
The plan to discharge inpatients to care of local residents with spare rooms at £50 a day has been put on hold following an outcry from campaigners, press and politicians.
The HSJ today (26 October) reports as follows:
The trust [Southend University Hospital] involved in a controversial plan to send discharged patients to private spare rooms, under an Airbnb style model, has now said it has “no intention… to support the pilot at this time”
The new NHS-funded scheme had planned to pay a private ‘Air bnb-style’ company to cut costs of accommodating hospital patients. The Save Southend NHS campaign group yesterday raised serious concerns, reported in Health Service Journal, about a new privately-run enterprise called CareRooms – an Airbnb-style company which places discharged NHS patients in people’s spare rooms.
Through CareRooms, the NHS would have paid private home owners ‘with no care experience’ up to £1000 per month to host patients who still require some medical support and would normally be in a hospital setting for the rest of their recovery or awaiting a place in an intermediate care or residential facility.
The supposed aim is to reduce the number of patients remaining in hospital, or other care settings, for the duration of their recovery. As a result, potentially vulnerable people would have ended up in unsuitable accommodation, being cared for people who have little training. The scheme also doesn’t appear to be regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The Save Southend NHS campaign discovered that this cost-cutting scheme was to be be piloted in the Southend area as part of the Mid and South Essex STP (or ‘Success Regime’), and promoted by the Southend University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust – with leaflets being handed out to patients and visitors in public areas of the hospital.
While we accept that there is a national crisis with ‘delayed transfers of care’ (DTOCs) as a result of chronic cuts to social care funding, the Save Southend NHS campaign is seriously concerned that this is a dangerous, unregulated scheme which could have left vulnerable people – who should be in a care setting appropriate to their needs, and being cared for by trained professionals – without the care they really need, all in the name of releasing beds.
A spokesperson for the Save Southend NHS Campaign said:
“The risky and unregulated private CareRooms scheme opens a huge can of worms for safeguarding, governance and possible financial and emotional abuse of people at their most vulnerable time. While we accept that there are issues with delayed transfers of care due to chronic social care cuts and underfunding, we do not accept that this is in the best interest of recovering patients in the Southend and Essex area. In our view, there is no room for unregulated, unprofessional airBnB-style care in our NHS.”
CareRooms company is advised by former NHS England Director Mike Bewick – who co-incidentally is also the Independent Chair of the Mid and South Essex Success STP. This is just another example of our local STP attempting to cut costs at the expense of people’s care.
Chair of the Commons Health Select Committee, Sarah Wollaston, MP for Totnes raised her concerns on Twitter today (26 October) in response to coverage in The Guardian – see here
Campaigners can claim with pride to have contributed to the temporary abandonment of this ill-thought out scheme, with its huge inherent dangers. But beware: today Government minister, Lord O’Shaughnessy in the Lords, Tom Abell, Southend Trust spokesperson and CareHomes Ltd all have failed to rule out use of this scheme ‘after further scoping’.
There is no short cut solution created by paying a private company for beds in spare rooms in private residencies: 15,000 beds have been lost since 2010. We need the restoration of fully funded NHS and social care and the removal of the wasteful private sector, looking for ‘opportunities’ not for patients but for themselves.
[This post has been updated]
Docs Not Cops is a group of NHS staff and patients that work to combat racism in the NHS. We are fighting to protect access to the NHS on the basis of need. No one should be afraid to access the healthcare they need, either because they can’t pay or might be punished, and NHS workers should not be forced to police the people they treat.
We believe the Government is trying to blame the severe and growing NHS funding crisis on migrants, but this is a distraction. The numbers don’t add up: ‘deliberate health tourism’ costs less than 0.3% of the overall NHS budget [see the Fullfact site here]. The costs that might be recouped by charging people for their care are a drop in the ocean for the NHS, but potentially ruinous for patients now being landed with multi-thousand pound bills – or being put off accessing healthcare altogether.
NHS workers shouldn’t be forced to police the people they’re treating. It is costly and time-consuming – and not only does this raise difficult medical ethics issues for already overstretched staff; it will destroy the relationship of trust between NHS staff and patients.
Along with groups like Doctors of the World and MedAct Refugee Solidarity Group, Docs Not Cops have been campaigning against policies designed to deter, restrict and/or charge migrants for access to healthcare. Founded in 2014 to oppose the ‘Health surcharge’ added to visa applications under the Immigration Act introduced that year, the group has more recently been campaigning against new regulations which – as of Monday 23rd October – oblige all NHS trusts in England to check the residency and immigration status of patients and to demand upfront payment for care from those who are unable to prove their eligibility.
In September and October 2017 Docs Not Cops:
The new regulations cover all secondary care and a large proportion of community and mental health services. Though it does not include GP services or A&E, people may be asked questions in these places and may fear attending them as a result of questioning in other parts of the health system.
Campaigning works! – DoH makes concession on school nurses and HVs
Campaigners were unable to prevent the introduction of the regulations, but our efforts were rewarded with a small victory on 25th October, when the Department of Health quietly added exemptions for school nurses and health visitors into guidance for implementation of the new regulations. While it is encouraging that the Department of Health appears to have listened to some concerns from frontline workers, the reality is that this policy needs to be scrapped. Marginalised women and children will still face racial profiling and discrimination at maternity appointments, at outpatients appointments and when entering A&E where the checks are being carried out even though charging doesn’t apply.
Not spending this damn long at medical school learning how to treat people only to refuse care @DocsNotCops @DHgovuk #PatientsNotPassports pic.twitter.com/qOFrn2VSFp
— Dan (@DanJPHadley) October 23, 2017
These policies undermine the principles of the NHS
As Bevan noted in his 1952 book In Place of Fear (describing “agitation” about “free treatment of foreign visitors” as a Conservative attempt to “exploit the most disreputable emotions… to discredit socialised medicine”). When NHS treatment becomes conditional upon immigration status and financial means, instead of being granted on the basis of need – the obvious risk arises that some migrants will not be able to afford to seek medical advice or treatment, or will fear punishment for not carrying the right papers.
Real risk of racial profiling and threats
Already there have been numerous examples of patients being racially profiled and targeted with threatening letters and demands for payment. London North West Healthcare sent a letter demanding documents to prove eligibility for NHS from an eight-day-old baby. Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust (BHR) sent at least one pregnant woman a letter threatening that future appointments might be cancelled if she could not pay a deposit for treatment. It is not hard to imagine that the government may seek to extend the conditions upon which access to NHS treatment is available, and we can note that some CCGs are already introducing policies that restrict access on the basis of BMI or smoking while dropping treatments they are willing to provide for free.
The majority of doctors and nurses are not even aware of the new regulations, but opposition and resistance to these policies can be built among health workers and within unions. Pressure can be placed on NHS Trusts to fulfil their responsibility as care providers by standing with staff and patients in resisting these devastating checks. Local Docs Not Cops groups are already being set up and a network is forming. Like Keep Our NHS Public, Docs Not Cops supports the Campaign for the NHS Reinstatement Bill, not only because its central function would be to restore a publicly owned, managed and accountable NHS, but because it contains a commitment to:
[To] abolish the legal provisions passed in 2014 requiring certain immigrants to pay for NHS services.
Development of legislation ‘as per the NHS Bill (2016-17)’ – as the motions backed at Labour Party Conference in September 2017 stated – needs to retain and extend this commitment in order to overturn the new regulations and ensure access to healthcare on the basis of need. Docs Not Cops will continue to spread information and create opportunities for those who want to defend this core NHS principle and demonstrate solidarity with migrants and people of colour to resist racism in the NHS.
Docs Not Cops will be at the Health Campaigns Together conference on November 4th 2017, running a workshop on “Health Tourism and Migrant Rights in the NHS”.
Contact Docs Not Cops via:
DocsNotCops@gmail.com
facebook.com/DocsNotCops
@DocsNotCops
At the start of 2017, nothing highlighted more clearly the level of neglect shown by this government towards the NHS, and the risks to safety they have allowed, than this image: a sick two year-old waiting in A&E for initial assessment, including the possibility of meningitis, lying across two chairs in the A&E waiting room where there were no beds or cubicles.
Two deaths were reported of adult patients waiting on trolleys in Worcestershire Royal Hospital A&E in for admission to the wards and for treatment. One patient had been waiting 35 hours before eventually succumbing still on a trolley in A&E.
NHS England’s Simon Stevens had railroaded through the signing of operating plans by NHS trusts and CCGs end of January that are totally unrealistic. Stevens imposes draconian ‘financial control totals’ in order to deliver dangerous levels of underfunding demanded by Jeremy Hunt – through radical cuts, mergers and closures contained in England’s 44 so-called ‘Sustainability & Transformation Plans’ (STPs). Emperor Jeremy Hunt has no clothes, and everyone knows it:
National Audit Office report Health and social care integration February 2017
There is no compelling evidence to show that integration in England leads to sustainable financial savings or reduced hospital activity … The Departments have not yet established a robust evidence base to show that integration leads to better outcomes for patients … do not yet have the evidence to show that they can deliver their commitment to integrated services by 2020, at the same time as meeting existing pressures on the health and social care systems.
Great expectations – shifting the balance of care March 2017
While out-of-hospital care may be better for patients, it is not likely to
be cheaper for the NHS in the short to medium term – and certainly not
within the tight timescales under which the STPs are expected to deliver
change. The wider problem remains: more patient-centred, efficient and
appropriate models of care require more investment than is likely to be
possible given the current funding envelope.
The biggest march ever for the NHS condemned Government policy to underfund and privatise the NHS. See the summary of media coverage of this truly historic occasion – it changed the mood of the country about the NHS. Organised by Health Campaigns Together and The People’s Assembly Against Austerity, with Keep Our NHS Public, the demands were simple and clear:
Alongside a demand for an end to racism towards patients and NHS staff, this is a clear and relevant manifesto to save our NHS.
But our response was to ensure the electorate voted on the NHS and on social care – the NHS Roadshow was born the next day, set up by junior doctor, Aislinn Macklin Doherty for the Health campaigns Together, Keep Our NHS Public, People’s Assembly alliance who had staged the dramatic 4 March #ourNHS demonstration.
NHS Roadshow, Health Campaigns Together, Keep Our NHS Public and People’s Assembly combined once again and intervened in the General Election campaign to ensure that the NHS had a high profile. NHS Roadshow Twitter (renamed as Health Campaigns Together’s @NHScampaigns) Twitter was the fourth most effective Twitter stream on the election. And highly effective videos were put out including ‘So you’re thinking of voting Conservative’ which reached 11.5 million people.
The election result was a disaster for the Conservatives and a major step forward for campaigners for the NHS and against austerity cuts to health, social care, education. The hung parliament meant that the Tories had to buy support from the Democratic Unionist Party in the North of Ireland for £1bn. Difficult and controversial decisions would be ever more difficult to push through parliament – we had made a very real contribution as NHS campaigners to the outcome of the election. Our job however was very far from done.
But the relationships and alliances forged in the making of the 4 March demonstration and the NHS roadshow stand us in good stead for the future.
Saturday 1 July and Wednesday 5 July saw events up and down the country to mark the 69th birthday of the NHS – a mixture of celebration and thanks to the NHS and staff and of anger and demands to government that they change direction and stop deliberate underfunding and privatisation of the NHS.
Our campaigning new website went live on 24 July – with heartfelt thanks to Geoff.
Notice of Hunt’s intention to privatise NHS Professionals – the in-house NHS agency staff organisation saving over £70m per year by-passing private agencies. The effective response launched by We Own It was supported by Keep Our NHS Public – see ‘September’.
An important debate on the future of the NHS took place at the Royal Society of Medicine 19 August. Very well organised by Bring Back The NHS, the debate was put on by Discourse and attracted the brilliant presence of Professor Stephen Hawking, as well as a range of informed speakers including Sarah Wollaston, Conservative MP for Totnes and Chair of the Commons Select Committee. The importance of the debate should not be lost, but the overwhelming impact was the decision of Jeremy Hunt to challenge the analytical abilities of Stephen Hawking – the rest is history. Hunt came off significantly the worse in reputation and credibility. Thank you to Professor Hawking. What follows is a brief history of that time:
September was a boost to NHS campaigners: following We Own It’s campaign with KONP in support, Justin Madders referred the threatened privatisation of NHS Professionals to the Audit Commission. Jeremy Hunt backed down and the Department of Health announced its withdrawal of the plan to privatise.
Then came the Labour Party annual conference: health campaigners, KONP activists, Socialist Health Association and LP members mobilised to get a staunch defence of the NHS and a call to end the market in healthcare on the agenda. Composite 8 was passed unanimously – this was a great day. Read more below.
Historic moment as Labour Conference unanimously recommits to restoring an NHS for all
[We have published an excellent briefing and post on ACOs]
Simon Stevens, Chief Executive of NHS England moved quickly between December 2016 and the summer.
So – four doctors and academics announced their intention to mount an judicial review against Jeremy Hunt and NHS England. These four became ‘The Famous Five’ when Professor Stephen Hawking joined them in December.
They are still crowd-funding for funds to cover legal costs – please support here and read more below:
Appeal to fund Judicial Review vs Jeremy Hunt and ACO imposition
The Autumn Statement was 22 November. Campaigning to highlight the need for emergency funding for health and social care came from many quarters – NHS Providers, NHS England and Simon Stevens himself, the major thinktanks, Sarah Wollaston Chair of the Commons Health Select Committee and of course campaigners.
The People’s Assembly Against Austerity held a rally in Whitehall at Downing St the night before to highlight the impact of universal credit vindictiveness, foodbanks and cuts to health and social care. The next day Chancellor Philip Hammond refused to fund the NHS safely and failed to even mention social care.
Hammond conceded less than half of urgent NHS needs in Autumn Budget
Despite the blatantly false denials from Jeremy Hunt that he is privatising the NHS, the scale of privatisation has been confirmed by The Guardian at year end: 70% of 386 NHS contracts tendered in 2016/17 financial year went to private companies! £3.1bn of health services – including a shocking £1bn of contracts to Virgin over the last year – the very same company that has sued the NHS for failing to renew the Surrey contract (above). It is heartening to hear a clear message given out on one of the mainstream media outlet at year’s end on LBC:
The government aren't privatising the NHS by the back door, says @AyeshaHazarika. They're doing it by the front door instead. https://t.co/y8mit0jrWU
— LBC (@LBC) December 30, 2017
Deliberate neglect of the NHS for eight years – over 5 years on Hunt’s watch – leaves NHS staff facing unacceptable winter pressures once again. They have been totally let down by Hunt.
New Year’s Day and Cornwall’s main hospital remains on ‘black alert’ with five hour waits and not enough doctors or beds to treat patients.
And Plymouth runs out of corridor space for patients on trolleys already stacked up because the A&E proper is full.
We cannot allow this to go on – the Winter Crisis is a political crisis made by Hunt and the Tory Government
We will indeed ‘fight for our NHS’ – for the care patients need and for NHS staff who need our support.
Please join us, support us, help fund our campaign
Become an individual member of KONP and join one of our local groups – near 80 across England. Get your organisation to affiliate to Health Campaigns Together – with 80 affiliates including four national unions: Unite the Union, Unison, the Fire Brigades Union (FBU) and National Education Union (NEU).
Together we are strong enough to win back and protect the NHS. We will force this government to change course or go – that is what it will take to restore NHS and social care funding, to end the threat of privatisation and to return the NHS fully to public service.
Watch for our response to the Winter crisis – and join us
Put Saturday 7 July in your diary
National demonstration to mark the 70th anniversary of the launching of the NHS – 5th July 1948 – this year’s event launched once again in celebration and in thanks – but with extra significance to our defiant opposition to attempts to underfund, dismantle and put out to private contractors our very special and vitally needed National Health Service.
Support the Judicial Review – JR4NHS
Follow the campaigns round the country – from Huddersfield to Dorset and beyond!
Tony O’Sullivan, Co-chair KONP
The trust [Southend University Hospital] involved in a controversial plan to send discharged patients to private spare rooms, under an Airbnb style model, has now said it has “no intention… to support the pilot at this time”
Latest news: 24 January 2018 – Statement from the team Thanks to the fantastic, far-reaching and committed campaign involving thousands of people, and our brilliant legal team, the government and NHS England have now accepted 
National KONP & NHS News 3rd February Regional & National Demonstrations Photo: Luke Dray Thank you to all of you who made up a part of the 60,000-strong crowd who marched on Downing Street on 
Please support South Yorkshire’s and Dorset’s fundraising In addition to the major judicial review (JR) led by Professor Allyson Pollock challenging the illegality of introducing Accountable Care Organisations without primary legislation, and circumventing parliamentary debate, 
In August 2017 we publicised how Push Doctor was making false claims in its advertising drive. The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) has now banned some Push Doctor ads for implying that services were provided by the NHS, and therefore not making 
We wrote about Albert Thompson’s (not his real name) ordeal in our April Newsletter . Despite living in London for 44 years and paying 3 decades of taxes Thompson was told that unless he can 
After a very long and incredibly stressful three and a half years which has seen the derailing of his career, Dr Chris Day has finally won a landmark legal battle. Thanks to the tireless efforts 
Keep Our NHS Public is proud to announce that Professor Wendy Savage has been given the prestigious award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to health and healthcare in the UK’ at a ceremony held by the British 
A Message of support for the #OurNHS Demonstration from Jeremy Corbyn This Saturday in London, I will be joining Health Campaigns Together, The People’s Assembly Against Austerity, the unions, doctors, nurses, campaigners and tens of thousands 
