Katie Simpson, Northampton Socialist Party
A children’s ward at Kettering General Hospital has been found to be inadequate, the lowest rating that inspectors can give. A slew of 50 official complaints came in from parents, after cases of fatalities and serious injuries in the Northamptonshire hospital.
As a mum of a young child in the area, it’s worrying to know a place that a child should be safest is failing so many families. Equally, as someone who’s worked in healthcare for over a decade, the outcome of the report is unfortunately unsurprising.
Inspectors found whistleblowers being penalised. This is a growing issue in NHS trusts, and a consequence of a top-down method of management.
13 years of Tory austerity has seen catastrophic underfunding and lack of investment in our NHS. It is clear that the Tories are quite happy to drive the NHS into the ground to justify further privatisation.
Tories and Labour
On the other side, Labour has said it will refuse exhausted NHS staff an inflation-proof pay rise, and called for more privatisation. And when asked about doctors walking out, Labour shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, said: “I don’t support the strike”. We need a new party for us.
Privatisation of hospital cleaning shows the dangers. The inspection of the hospital ward found it was so unclean there was dust on infants’ cots.
Another outcome of the report highlighted that lack of staffing was a serious concern, including a vacancy for a lead nurse that hadn’t been filled for several months. This is the reality of what is happening in the NHS.
This is why thousands of nurses and doctors are taking further strike action – to fight back against the ongoing risk that understaffing and underfunding is having on the most vulnerable patients: our kids.
A democratically owned and run NHS, with full funding and well-trained, properly paid staff, is the only solution to prevent these tragedies happening on a national scale.
