NHS white paper savaged

Louise Nousratpour in Manchester
Tuesday September 14, 2010
The Morning Star

TUC Congress: THE government is gambling with the nation's health and taxpayers' money by pressing ahead with plans to rip the NHS apart, TUC delegates have warned.

The NHS white paper heralds the biggest shake-up the service has ever seen and if not resisted could spell the end of publicly-owned free health-care in Britain.

Chartered Society of Physiotherapy delegate Lesley Mercer told Congress in Manchester that the proposed changes - estimated to cost £3 billion - had made the future of the NHS "more uncertain than any time since its foundation in 1948."

Moving a motion instructing Congress to challenge the changes, she said that the "eye-watering" cuts represented "the biggest gamble with this nation's health and taxpayers' money.

"It's equivalent to floating the NHS on the stock market and see what happens.

"As the role of the state shrinks to 'light-touch regulator,' the service might even be scrapped altogether - what you can afford will dictate the quality of care you get."

Ms Mercer, whose motion was passed unanimously, called on the TUC to challenge the proposals "legislatively" and by organising joint campaigns with staff and patients.

She added that the public wanted a "publicly funded, publicly provided and publicly accountable service."

The NHS has been ordered to find up to £20bn in savings over the next few years, contrary to David Cameron's pre-election pledge to ring-fence it.

"This was a blatant lie," Unite delegate Joyce Still said, also questioning whether the Tory premier would fulfil his other much-vaunted pre-election promise of 4,000 extra health visitors.

Ms Still rejected the government's divide between frontline and other NHS staff, insisting: "All NHS workers are frontline staff and they are already seeing the impact of cuts and loss of vital jobs.

"Privatisation, cuts and the race to the bottom in pay and conditions will destroy our NHS."

Unison has already launched legal action against Health Secretary Andrew Lansley's refusal to consult the public and staff on proposals contained in the white paper.

The Green Party also passed a motion at its annual conference last week vowing to campaign against Con-Dem plans for a fully-privatised "Tesco-style" health service.