Our NHS is falling to pieces. Health workers are overworked and underpaid. And the NHS waiting list is the longest it’s ever been – over seven million. Below, a Tower Hamlets Socialist Party member explains what can be done about some of the problems in the NHS.
‘40 new hospitals’ – Tories compound Boris Johnson lies
Boris Johnson promised to build 40 new hospitals in a desperate attempt to win the 2019 general election. Since, he has been under investigation into the inaccurate claim.
We already knew that the vast vast majority of these weren’t ‘new hospitals’, just renovations and additions to existing hospitals. The government has now shamefully admitted that eight of the 40 building projects won’t even be completed by the 2030 deadline, and will be delayed by an extra ten years.
The Tories haven’t found it hard to add other NHS projects to list. There isn’t a shortage of crumbling falling down hospitals!
Tory NHS underfunding and private sector profiteering means that health workers are expected to treat patients in crumbling old hospitals with age-related problems, causing problems for staff and patients.
9am pharmacy run as bad as 8am GP phone gauntlet
Almost 90% of pharmacists are on the brink of burnout. The Royal Pharmaceutical Society says that three out of four workers have debated handing in their resignation.
Fallout from the NHS crisis puts more demands on their services. Pharmacists feel they are the ‘go to’ option when people can’t get to their GP, or don’t know where to go for care.
The patchwork of pharmacy provision, dominated by competing profiteering pharmacy chains, isn’t working. These should be integrated into a fully nationalised, democratically run NHS. That way they can pay inflation-busting pay rises to solve the staffing crisis. And the pharmaceutical giants should be nationalised too, to drive down prices.
Doctor apprenticeship – Tory pipe dream
The government is considering ‘doctor apprenticeships’ to help with the NHS staff crisis. They could start training as early as September.
But NHS trades unions – British Medical Association (BMA) for doctors and the Royal College of Nursing (RCN) – have criticised the plans. They worry they won’t deliver the standard of training which medical students currently get at university. And the overstretched health service can’t provide enough experienced doctors and nurses to deliver on-the-job training.
The Socialist Party calls for:
- Solidarity and support on picket lines for striking doctors, nurses and other health staff
- Inflation-busting pay rise for our NHS workers now
- End to privatisation and private finance initiative (PFI)
- A socialist NHS and care system – democratically run by elected and accountable committees, including service workers and users
