New report on rebuilding NHS ‘lays bare the truth’ about privatisation, Labour MP says

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/new-report-rebuilding-nhs-lays-bare-truth-about-privatisation-labour-mp-says

A general view of staff on a NHS hospital ward

INCREASED NHS funding during the last Labour government masks how privatisation reduced its efficiency, says a groundbreaking new expert report which was launched in Parliament this week.

The Rational Policy-maker’s Guide to Rebuilding the NHS was produced by academics and NHS professionals at the 99% Organisation and Keep Our NHS Public (KONP).

Cross-party MPs, policy-makers attended the event sponsored by Labour MP Richard Burgon.

Today he said: “This report lays bare the truth that underfunding and creeping privatisation have left our NHS in crisis. But there is a way forward.

“Proper public investment and a commitment to keeping the NHS free at the point of use can rebuild our health service and improve patient outcomes.

“The government must take note: this is not just about economics, it’s about saving lives.”

The report warned that ministers “must skilfully avoid the pitfalls of the past” Labour government, including failing to tackle social care.

Founder of the 99% Organisation Mark E Thomas said: “There is no dispute that the NHS is struggling badly, but there is certainly dispute about how to fix it.

“This report demonstrates that calls for further privatisation or an insurance-based system would be catastrophic for both public health and the economy.

“The only viable solution is proper funding, preventive healthcare investment, and tackling the root causes of ill health, including poverty.”

KONP co-chair Dr John Puntis said: “Decades of market-driven policies have eroded our NHS.

“This report makes it clear that the way forward is not more outsourcing or corporate involvement, but a properly funded, publicly run health service that puts patients before profit.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/new-report-rebuilding-nhs-lays-bare-truth-about-privatisation-labour-mp-says

Continue ReadingNew report on rebuilding NHS ‘lays bare the truth’ about privatisation, Labour MP says

Labour pursues NHS cross-party cuts agenda

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/they-come-prices-and-vices-–-starmer-and-swiftie-spads This looks like indisputable evidence that the Labour government is privatising the NHS. The Starmer, Swiftie, Spads article is also interesting with many ex-Corporate lobbyist spads employed by Labour also getting bribed worshiped.

Keir Starmer confirms that he's proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.
Keir Starmer confirms that he’s proud to be a red Tory continuing austerity and targeting poor and disabled scum.

WES STREETING appointed Baroness Camilla Cavendish, who previously led David Cameron’s Number 10 Policy Unit, onto the board of the Department for Health this month, saying he wanted to have “cross-party” figures of “different political persuasions” to guide the NHS.

He wants to build a “cross-party consensus” to “reform the NHS.” But what is this consensus? In 2007, when Labour’s Gordon Brown was prime minister Cavendish wrote that “the hungry maw of the NHS is swallowing more and more resources, at the expense of virtually everything else.”

Cavendish denounced the NHS as “Britain’s last big state monopoly,” complaining that “its powerful unions view any slowdown in spending growth as a ‘cut.’ And cut is a deadly word in political terms.”

Cavendish said the NHS badly needs more “innovation,” which is only possible “by introducing competition.” Cavendish said New Labour had not gone far enough down this road. She welcomed Tony Blair’s attempts to “introduce competition” by letting private providers carry out some operations, and the introduction of foundation trusts, but claimed: “Ministers are too easily persuaded that the battle is between public and private provision. They are ashamed to endorse the private.”

She was worried Brown did not believe enough in “market-based reform” of the NHS. She said the health service was “a bloated state” and argued “the writing is on the wall: a tax-funded free healthcare system is looking ever less sustainable.”

The NHS was certainly in better state in 2007 than now. However, while the idea it was bloated, overfunded and needed more privatisation might appeal to Streeting, it doesn’t appeal to Labour voters. Cavendish went on to join Cameron’s No 10 operation in 2015, when the Tory PM did indeed stick with more NHS privatisation and less NHS money.

Cavendish is expected by Streeting to sit with former Labour health minister Alan Milburn on the Department of Health board and build up a consensus for NHS reform. Both seem drawn to Cameron’s approach — accepting and accelerating New Labour’s NHS privatisation, while adding Tory spending reductions.

NHS emblem
NHS emblem

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/they-come-prices-and-vices-–-starmer-and-swiftie-spads This looks like indisputable evidence that the Labour government is privatising the NHS.

Continue ReadingLabour pursues NHS cross-party cuts agenda

London hospital advertises for ‘corridor care’ nurses

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/london-hospital-advertises-for-corridor-care-nurses

The emergency department at Midland Metropolitan University Hospital, Smethwick, January 8, 2025

Royal College of Emergency Medicine says advertisement is ‘normalising’ patients being treated in the corridors

A LONDON hospital has advertising for “corridor care” nurses because so many A&E patients are being cared for while waiting for beds or treatment.

The 12-hour shifts were advertised by Whittington hospital in north London.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) said the advertisement indicated the “normalising” of patients being treated in the corridors of hospital A&E departments.

Retired paediatrician Dr John Puntis, co-chair of campaign group Keep Our NHS Public, said: “There can be no bleaker illustration of the current state of the NHS than ‘care’ delivered in corridors.

“Winter pressures on an already overstretched service were entirely predictable.

“Six months in power and Labour has done nothing pro-active to alleviate this situation.”

He accused the government of instead “throwing money at the private sector.”

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/london-hospital-advertises-for-corridor-care-nurses

Continue ReadingLondon hospital advertises for ‘corridor care’ nurses

Morning Star Editorial: Starmer’s private healthcare fixation puts ideology before patients

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https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmers-private-healthcare-fixation-puts-ideology-patients

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer speaks to medical staff and media during a visit to Elective Orthopaedic Centre in Epsom, Surrey, to highlight his ‘plan for change’ commitments on health, January 6, 2025

KEIR STARMER says he is expanding NHS dependence on the private sector because he is “not interested in putting ideology before patients.”

But continuing to increase outsourcing of NHS care to private providers ignores the evidence of the last decade and puts corporate profit, not patients, first.

Labour’s plans for the NHS represent continuity with Tory policy, not change.

The number of procedures outsourced by the NHS has steadily grown since 2014, without any discernible impact on waiting lists, which have soared in the same period.

Private hospitals have claimed an ever greater share of routine operations, now performing about a quarter of hip and knee replacements and the same proportion of cataract removals: extracting sizeable profits on simple operations which would cost less in-house.

In the process, they undermine the NHS’s capacity to deliver such treatments. Most medics working in the private sector also carry out work for the NHS, while private providers are constantly seeking to recruit more NHS staff: the greater the demand for private operations, the greater the drain on the NHS workforce. Outsourcing is not driven simply by need but by greed: with higher rates available in the private sector, some doctors have an incentive to refer patients for private treatment at public expense.

Starmer wants to raise the number of privately provided operations by another 20 per cent. But with a shared workforce, this could mean the NHS paying more for the same number of procedures rather than slashing waiting lists.

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/starmers-private-healthcare-fixation-puts-ideology-patients

Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves wear the uniform of the rich and powerful. They have all had clothes bought for them by multi-millionaire Labour donor Lord Alli. CORRECTION: It appears that Rachel Reeves clothing was provided by Juliet Rosenfeld.
Continue ReadingMorning Star Editorial: Starmer’s private healthcare fixation puts ideology before patients