Laurence Dunn, Staines Socialist Party
The number of people waiting for NHS care has reached over 7.3 million, the most the NHS has ever had.
A few months ago I was diagnosed, after years of being passed from pillar-to-post, with complex post-traumatic stress. It is hard enough dealing with symptoms, without the added stress of knowing I will not have access to proper treatment for three years, alongside multiple-year waits for other tests.
There are even regular problems in getting medication too. For those of us dealing with these delays to vital care, the prospects can be grim.
Long waiting lists have contributed to excess deaths. Tory austerity and privatisation have failed.
Privatisation
But Wes Streeting, Labour shadow health secretary, said that an inbound Labour government will use privatisation to reduce waiting times. That’s a ridiculous remark. Waiting times for treatment at A&E and for ambulances have increased since privatisation was introduced into the NHS.
It is important that service users vocally support striking nurses, doctors, and all workers who participate in the running of the NHS, and their demands. These are the people who provide the service, and without them, there would be no NHS.
Underfunding, and poor wages and conditions are a political choice by the Tory government that impacts the effectiveness of the service, the lives of people working in it and the lives of people who rely on it.
The Socialist Party fights to kick all private companies out of the NHS, and to nationalise the pharmaceutical industry. By creating a socialist NHS that is free at the point of use, democratically managed by workers and service users – we can begin to provide the healthcare that working-class people deserve and reduce waiting times too.
