Kill the Bill, Not the NHS

An Emergency Operation: Transform the Banks, Save the NHS

Birmingham
Meet: 11am Waterstones, High Street - near the Bull statue / Bullring Shopping centre

The NHS is under threat from two sides - it's "ringfenced" budget is being cut and Lansley's Health Bill is going to be a big step towards full privatisation.

Under the guise of ‘efficiency’ and ‘reform’, this government is plotting to cut the NHS and sell off what’s left. Andrew Lansley has claimed the government is in a ‘listening exercise’ about the proposed NHS ‘reforms’. But despite widespread outcry from doctors, nurses and the public the government isn’t listening to anyone apart from private healthcare lobbyists.

As the royal wedding crowded out the airwaves, the ConDem's released news that the NHS would have to find 50% more efficiency savings than previously stated, bring the total to £30bn.
False Economy used freedom of information requests to find out that at least 50,000 staff would be losing their jobs. In Birmingham, the Heart of England Trust will lose 1,600 positions - 20% of their staff whilst University Hospital Birmingham faces hundreds of job losses, leading to a reduction in operations and outpatient appointments.
Patient care can only suffer with such cuts. Nursing Times tells us that that patient care is already suffering, and that the number of nursing vacancies has fallen to the lowest level since they started counting in 2009, and that represents a 58% drop in vacancies.

Meanwhile Lansley's Health bill will tear apart the principle of collective purchasing by removing PCTs, and will open the NHS up to any willing provider - meaning that private health care competes with NHS providers for treatments. GPs will decide where to send someone, and the price of each option will become a factor in a patients care. It will no longer be the case that a GPs sole interest is what the best clinical option is for the patient, as they will now have to consider the cost, and in some cases, the profit they will make. It also allows private companies to cherry pick the simplest, most profitable parts of health care, leaving the NHS with only difficult and expensive treatments or diagnoses. This could have particular effect on elderly patients who require more care and are thus more expensive than younger patients.
For the National Health Service, this is not an issue. The concern of the NHS is the treatment of every person in this country, not the bank balance of directors, investors and shareholders. But private companies only go where money is to be made, and will leave vital areas of care alone. The NHS can subsidise those areas from the cheaper simpler operations, a private company would never do this.

The NHS is not perfect, it is not infallible. But it is one of the best healthcare systems in the western world when comparing overall outcomes - and also one of the cheapest
We face healthcare challenges but when 98.7% of Nurses say they have no confidence in Lansley, and a majority of Doctors say they do not want these reforms, perhaps it is time we said that these reforms will not help us meet those challanges, and will make healthcare more expensive and worse for people living in the UK.

On May 28th, we will create a temporary field hospital at a bank in Birmingham city centre to make Lansley listen. We want to keep our healthy NHS and fix our broken banking system. Whilst the NHS is being dismantled, the banks that caused this crisis in the first place have been left untouched. Reckless gambling, obscene bonuses and a global financial crisis are symptoms of a disease that requires a drastic intervention.

Come in scrubs or medical uniforms as doctors, nurses, porters and other medical/hospital staff, or as a patient in need of treatment. Bring bandages, plasters and fake blood. If you're not feeling like some street theatre, we need people to hold banners, hand out leaflets, get petitions signed and most importantly talk to people about the NHS, the cuts and the banks.