Protecting the NHS
The Government has now passed its Health & Care Bill into law. Some of its ideas are sensible: better integration between health and social care could be valuable.
But many patients’ groups and members of the medical profession are concerned that it paves the way for moving towards a US-style healthcare system, which as the chart shows is not a good benchmark, and that its provisions may lead to further privatisation and give ministers powers to award contracts to favoured companies without scrutiny or challenge.
We share their concerns and set up a project, jointly with the National Health Action Party, the first phase of which was to analyse the provisions of the Bill, to assess which were positive suggestions and which could be dangerous for the NHS, and to share our findings with MPs and campaigning groups working on the issue. You can read our initial findings here. Here is our Submission to the House of Lords.
The team is now working on Phase 2 of the project which is looking at setting out the Health & Care system the UK needs and deserves. The team’s report, The Rational Policy-Maker’s Guide to the NHS will be launched in early July to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the NHS.
If you might be able to help, please let Mark know on mark.e.thomas@99-percent.org