Adam Gillman, Reading Socialist Party
The Tories have promised thousands more hospital beds and hundreds of new ambulances. But who is going to staff them?
Health workers are not receiving the pay rise they need or deserve. This has led to over 130,000 vacant positions across the NHS.
Moreover, the Tories have unilaterally decided to change 999 response time targets that were put in place to save lives.
In December, the average response time for emergency calls was more than 90 minutes. The Tories say they’ll reduce this to 30 minutes. But the official target is actually 18.
A 30-minute wait is dangerous. The previous targets were put in place to save lives. The Tories are putting people at risk.
The crisis in the NHS is a direct result of years of underfunding, privatisation, and cuts. The Socialist Party believes that healthcare should be based on need, not profit.
We demand a publicly owned and fully funded NHS, under democratic workers’ control and management. We call for the renationalisation of the NHS, reversing the Tories’ and Labour’s damaging privatisation policies, and a substantial increase in investment in our healthcare system.
