Nikki Doyle, Portsmouth Socialist Party
The NHS stands as one of the proudest achievements of the working class in post-war Britain, a beacon of socialised medicine that provides care for all, regardless of income. Yet decades of neoliberal austerity, privatisation, and underfunding have left it teetering on the brink of collapse. The pressure on healthcare workers, particularly GPs, is a stark example of how profit-driven capitalism, even in the healthcare system, fails to meet human needs. A fully funded, socialist healthcare system is not just desirable – it is essential for both the wellbeing of patients and healthcare workers.
The crisis for GPs is a microcosm of the broader issues plaguing the NHS. Despite the increasing demand for primary care services, newly qualified GPs are struggling to find stable employment. Ironically, the shortage of doctors, which is a pressing issue across the NHS, is not due to a lack of trained professionals but rather a lack of adequately funded and secure job placements. Many GPs are forced into precarious, locum roles or part-time contracts, leading to burnout and frustration. The government’s half-hearted attempts to address this shortage have done little more than tinker around the edges, leaving many GPs disillusioned and unable to provide the care their patients need.
This is not a failure of individual doctors, patients, or even managers, it is systemic. Underfunding, coupled with the creeping privatisation of healthcare services, has commodified healthcare, prioritising profits and cost-cutting over the well-being of both workers and patients. GPs are increasingly squeezed by targets, quotas, and the pressures of running clinics like businesses, all while being asked to do more with fewer resources. The result is inefficient and unjust.
When healthcare is treated as just another business, patients become customers, and GPs become overworked, underpaid service providers. This is not just unsustainable, it is immoral. Good health should not be treated as a commodity, subject to the whims of market forces.
The answer lies in fully funding the NHS and removing the profit motive entirely from healthcare. The big pharmaceutical companies, private health vultures and medical supply companies should be nationalised. A socialist healthcare system would prioritise human need over corporate profit. It would ensure that all GPs and healthcare workers have secure, well-paid jobs with manageable workloads, allowing them to focus on providing the best possible care. It would recognise healthcare as a right, not a privilege, and ensure that everyone, regardless of wealth, has access to the services they need.
Such a system would involve massive investment in the NHS, not only to recruit and retain staff but also to expand services and reduce waiting times. The private sector’s grip on healthcare must be broken, and services brought back under public control, run democratically for the benefit of all. The NHS was founded on socialist principles, and it is only by returning to those principles that we can save it. The current system is failing GPs, patients, and the country as a whole. A fully funded, public healthcare system is not just a utopian ideal, it is the only way to ensure that everyone receives the care they need.
