NHS – to be thrown away? The consequences of the Health & Social Care Bill

Defend Haringey Health Services Coalition May 2011

NHS – to be thrown away?The consequences of

the Health & Social Care Bill


YOUR LAST CHANCE to KILL the BILL

before the Bill kills the NHS

Speakers tonightDr Ron Singer, President of the Medical Practitioners Union

Alan Ridley, Royal College of Nursing

Kieran McGregor, Save Chase Farm Campaign


GET ANGRY and ACT!

• The speakers will explain why you should be angry.

• Have you noticed the quiet ‘Pause’? – make sure that the government listens and chucks out the Bill!

• We can provide you with the ammunition to KILL the BILL

• Join the campaign – we need your ideas!• www.defendharingeyhealthservices.org

http://www.defendharingeyhealthservices.org/


Listening exercise• DEADLINE May 31st.• DEMAND public meetings for patients and an

EXTENSION of the deadline.• RESPOND to the government’s Listening Exercise.• TELL the government what you think of the Bill– and

get everyone you know to do so as well. • WRITE to: NHS Modernisation Listening Exercise,

Room 605 Richmond House, 79 Whitehall, London SW1a 2NS or email [email protected]

• Government website http://healthandcare.dh.gov.uk/listening-exercise-how-to-get-involved/

mailto:[email protected]

http://healthandcare.dh.gov.uk/listening-exercise-how-to-get-involved/

http://healthandcare.dh.gov.uk/listening-exercise-how-to-get-involved/


Write and say -• The Bill must include a clearly defined role for the Secretary of State to

provide accessible health services to all.• Accountability to the public is severely reduced with the abolition of

Primary Care Trusts and Strategic Health Authorities. Substitute bodies are not required to meet the public or answer for their decisions.

• Foundation Trusts (i.e. hospitals) are not obliged to provide a full range of public health services; current obligations being repealed in the Bill. Market forces could make some hospitals fail causing gaps in provision.

• ‘Efficiency Savings’ imposed by the government are already reducing the number of treatments and staffing levels in hospitals. Hospital workers are under acute stress.

From John Lister’s article in BMJ• Ask about those face to face meetings promised; demand to be included.

One has been announced for LVSC Resource Centre Holloway Road 2-4 on May 13th.


Cuts are unnecessary & unwiseDebt is the total borrowed at a given time. Note UK debt is over 50% of GDP,

but lower than US and a quarter of Japan’s.


Deficit is the annual excess of spending over income.

In 1997 it was 42%, reduced to 29% by 2002, rose to 36% in 2008, then to 56% in 2010 with the global banking crisis.

Changes in UK deficit as % of

GDP from 1997

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

1997

2002

2008

2010

Year


Why cut spending on healthcare?

• In Radical Statistics #102 www.radstats.org.uk, Danny Dorling pointed out that

• ‘…..in just one year the wealth of the richest 1,000 individuals in the country had risen by £77bn (£77million each)’.

• Thus the spring 2010 structural deficit of £70 billion could easily be paid off by that rich minority.

http://www.radstats.org.uk/


Health & Social Care Bill Myth 1

Local independencePatients have more control

NOThe health secretary will have central control.

He/She would - • Direct the NHS Commissioning Board,

• Have control over Monitor (economic regulator)


Health & Social Care Bill Myth 2

Costs will be reduced- £20bn efficiency target

How?

• 1.2bn is the DH estimation of cost of transferring commissioning to GP consortia

• 20,900 redundancies

• Disruption costs


Health and Social Care Bill Myth 3 Shift balance of power to health professionals

Fewer layers of bureaucracy

No

• To achieve savings, GP consortia must be 339,000 – PCT size. Consortia of size 100,000 would lose 1/3 of savings.

• With consortia of that size, health professionals would have no more influence than they do now.

• Decision making no nearer the patient.• Health secretary wants an intermediate layer above

consortia• No directives on how consortia become accountable to

patients.


Health and Social Care Bill Myth 4 Reduce bureaucracy, inefficiency & duplication

No• The internal market has already increased

transactional costs.• Commissioning itself increases duplication and

office work & is costly.• More fragmentation will increase bureaucracy,

inefficiency & duplication• Competition builds in waste though duplication.• Tariffs will be adjusted (11-14% more) for private

providers to ‘level the playing field’.


Summarising what we say -The NHS is the best: -

delivering high quality services fairly to everyone,cost effective; we pay less in taxes than people in other EU countries.

Lansley’s bill gives you less sayGP Consortia don’t have to make their decisions public - and are not obliged to provide healthcare to all local residents.Draconian central control of funding through ‘Monitor’ and the ‘National Commissioning Board’.

GPs don’t want itThey risk having to ration services – government imposed cuts are already restricting services.

Look who says drop the bill!The British Medical Association, The Royal College of General Practitioners and The Royal College of Nursing.264,254 have signed the 38degrees Save the NHS petition. http://www.38degrees.org.uk/ – many from Haringey.

It’s cross party Liberal Democrat and even Conservative MPs like Norman Tebbit - are worried.

http://www.38degrees.org.uk/


More EventsMARCH TO SAVE THE NHS

Tuesday 17 May. 5.30pm Assemble UCH Gower St. March sets off at 6pm to Whitehall Organised by London Keep Our NHS Public (KONP) [email protected] 07914 529959

Public meeting in Hornsey

The Health and Social Care Bill – the end of the NHS we know?Tuesday 24th May, 7.30pm – Highgate Wood School, Montenotte Road, N8 8RN.Speakers include: John Healey MP, Karen Jennings, UNISON, Cllr Dilek Dogus, Haringey Council, Professor David Parkin, City University.Organized by Hornsey & Wood Green Labour Party 020 8340 7362

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

NHS – to be thrown away? The consequences of the Health & Social Care Bill