NHS is not safe in Cameron's hands

Today I wrote to local Conservative MP Mary Macleod challenging her to defend the Government’s NHS reforms in the run up to a private members’ bill being debated on 21st November.

Clive Efford’s bill will call on the Government to stop the further Privatisation of the NHS, restore the legal duty of the Secretary of State for Health to provide National Health Services and amend the Health and Social Care Act 2012to remove controversial competition requirements.

I question whether the Tories’ agenda of further privatisation is fundamentally opposed to the founding principle of the NHS, where patients are put before profit.

I keep meeting people who have experienced first-hand the effects of Tory re-organisation, privatisation and cut-backs. These range from the loss of a GP surgery in Spring Grove, longer waits to see their GP or at hospital, and NHS staff who worry that their care and professionalism is being undermined on a daily basis. Many local people are worried as to the impact of the proposed closure of A&E services at Charing Cross and Ealing hospitals, and Hounslow Council is having to deal with yet more cuts in Government funding meaning that care services are under further pressure to cope.

Last week the CQC inspection into the Chelsea & Westminster hospital trust found an increased demand for services including its A&E. Hospital staff told inspectors they believed the reconfiguration of services across London had contributed to the increased demand. Two A&E departments have already closed and Charing Cross and Ealing’s are set to close, which will put even more pressure on West Middlesex, Chelsea & Westminster and St Mary’s Paddington. A report published by the respected King’s Fund this week found low staff morale and deteriorating performance throughout the NHS. This report paints a worrying picture of a demoralised NHS which is getting worse by the week.

Since the Coalition’s £3 billion top-down reorganisation, the regular national patients survey shows that in Hounslow one in five patients now has to wait at least 7 days to see their GP and waiting times for A&E and operations in London are on the rise again.

Labour is Committed to:
Guarantee a GP appointment within 48 hours, and the same day for those who need it.
Guarantee a maximum one-week wait for cancer tests.
Create a £2.5 billion a year NHS Time to Care Fund to support 20,000 more nurses, 8,000 more GPs, 5,000 more home care workers and 3,000 more midwives.
Repeal David Cameron's NHS changes that put private profit before patients, so that NHS professionals can focus on your care, not competition law.