Wiltshire Unison health activist
Just three months after the election of the Labour government, it was announced that all community health services in Wiltshire will, from next April, be provided by private company HCRG, a subsidiary of Virgin, in a contract worth £1.3 billion.
This demonstrates that, under this government, the dismantling of the NHS will continue.
The decision made by the Integrated Care Board (ICB), the unaccountable regional organisation that runs health care, was of course signed off by Labour health minister Wes Streeting. He, it should be noted, has received huge donations from private health companies.
One thing that you can say about not only Wes Streeting but also the Labour government is that they are consistent. They said before the election that they would encourage private provision of healthcare, they said it during the election, and now they are carrying it out.
There are 42 ICBs covering the country which, as in Wiltshire, can and will award contracts to private companies. Indeed, no new legislation is required to create a market-based health service.
In fact, privatisation is much more prominent in the provision of community services than in the acute sector. Hence Labour’s desire to move these services out of hospitals.
That does not mean privatisation is not occurring in the big, acute hospitals. Increasingly, planned operations and other services are being provided by private companies. No publicly provided service is safe, especially if it is potentially profitable.
The only conclusion you can draw is that the Labour government will attempt to complete the destruction of the NHS, as continued under past Tory governments and under Blair’s New Labour with the proliferation of Private Finance Initiatives (PFIs).
Health workers will of course fight back, supported by local communities. What we also need is a political voice, an organisation that represents the interests of workers. A party that stands unequivocally in support of the NHS.
Such a party would need to fight for the complete nationalisation of the NHS under democratic workers’ control. To kick out all the private profiteers from our health service, cancel PFI debts and use the wealth and resources of society to invest in our health service.
