Samantha Erin, Tower Hamlets Socialist Party
On 3 July, the Labour government published its 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future. The plan highlights that “the choice for the NHS is stark: reform or die”. It also says that the plan will take a new course and reimagines the NHS through “transformational change that will guarantee its sustainability for generations to come”.
However, people shouldn’t be fooled by these overstatements and the saviour rhetoric. It would be a step forward to see a shift from reactive treatment to predictive and preventative care in many areas of our health service. And introducing health centres in areas with the lowest life expectancy could reduce health inequalities.
But without the proper resourcing of all these facilities, and pay and conditions that can attract and retain workers, the plan is doomed to fail.
There are clear issues in the published plan:
Performance pressures
The plan gives leaders and managers new freedoms, including the power to undertake performance appraisals. This is supposedly to reward high-performing staff but would also give managers the power to act decisively where they identify ‘underperformance’. This would mean reduced job security and added performance-related stress to NHS workers already overworked and underpaid.
Increased workload in community settings
The shift from hospitals to neighbourhood health centres could end up stretching existing staff thinner, especially if recruitment doesn’t keep pace with demand. GPs warn that expanding services without matching investment could overwhelm practices. Some have already said that the plan looks to be “disastrous” for GPs, as restructuring is not combined with additional funding.
Fewer staff by 2035
Despite promises of better training and career development, the plan anticipates fewer NHS staff than projected in previous workforce plans. This could mean heavier workloads and slower career progression for existing workers.
We need a fully funded NHS which removes the profit motive entirely from healthcare. Health funding that ends up being wasted by ending up as profits for private health companies or paying off expensive PFI (Private Finance Initiative) schemes could be used to expand health services and make use of advances in technology. The big pharmaceutical companies, private health vultures and medical supply companies should be nationalised under democratic workers’ control and management. 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.
