Fight for the funding we need
Katie Holden Plymouth Socialist Party
Almost 10 million people across England could be on NHS waiting lists.
The Office for National Statistics survey found that 21% of the 90,000 adult participants were on a waiting list for a hospital appointment or to start receiving treatment on the NHS. According to official NHS data in January, the waiting list stood at 7.6 million treatments for 6.3 million people. A gap of millions!
The survey also found that waiting list delays were more common among 16 to 24-year-olds. Students and young people are being disadvantaged by the Tories once again. Waiting times for 16 to 24-year-olds of over a year mean that students, graduates and young workers may not receive the treatment they dearly need in time. If that treatment is for terminal illness or mental health-related, this can lead to dire consequences, seen in recent spikes of suicide in young people
Rishi Sunak has failed to meet his pledge to cut NHS waiting times. Instead of investing the money needed and paying NHS staff wages they can live on, he has instead blamed doctors and nurses’ strike actions.
Even Sir Julian Hartley, chief executive of NHS Providers which represents NHS bosses, recognised the cause of the backlog. He said: “Hospital, mental health and community trusts are working incredibly hard to bear down on backlogs and deliver timely, high-quality patient care. But they are up against deep-rooted challenges including workforce shortages and a lack of physical capacity across the NHS and social care.”
Labour’s shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, says he has a plan to cut back the waiting lists. But so far he has raised more private involvement in the NHS, more companies making profit from our health service, and has refused to back striking workers demands for the pay they deserve.
We need to fully fund our NHS and kick out all the private profiteers making money from our ill-health. We need a fully public NHS including nationalising pharmaceutical and medical manufacturers, under democratic control and management of workers ourselves.
