7. 5. MAKING IT HAPPEN
Â
To achieve these aims we will actively
campaign both in our own right and,
where appropriate, in collaboration
with other like-minded organisations.
8. So, our key planks for evaluating
marketisation policy are fivefold :
â˘Â        Impact on inequalities
â˘Â        Integrated care
â˘Â        Impact on user charges
â˘Â        Impact on level of âpublicly providedâ
services
â˘Â        Impact on total funding available to the
NHS
With impact on inequalities being the most
important.
9. The Keep Our NHS Public ( KOP) Campaign statement
Â
âThe NHS stands at a crossroads. For nearly 60 years Britain has enjoyed a National Health Service that strivesÂ
to be comprehensive, accessible and high value for money. Now, government reforms threaten both the ethos ofÂ
the NHS, and the planned and equitable way in which it delivers care to patients. At the heart of the changes isÂ
the creation of a market that welcomes profit-driven international corporations who answer to shareholders, notÂ
patients. This market will compel hospitals and health professionals, who have traditionally co-operated to deliverÂ
healthcare, to compete with each other and with the private sector. Far from supporting the NHS, the privateÂ
sector is in competition with it, and is already draining away resources and staff.
Â
If these reforms continue the nature of the health system will change radically:
â˘Income and profits will increasingly come before patient needs and clinical considerations.
â˘Greater inequalities in healthcare will appear, as profitable services and patients attract money at the expense of
unprofitable ones.
â˘Forced market competition among NHS hospitals and primary care will break up the NHS as a collaborating network
of shared resources and information.
â˘Even more of the new money allocated to health will be diverted to shareholders and company profits, and wasted on
the huge administrative costs associated with establishing and running a market.
There is no evidence that these reforms will improve the health service. There will be winners and losers, withÂ
some units and even entire hospitals having to close. We are already seeing job losses and bed closures in NHSÂ
hospital. In spite of increased spending on healthcare, and government commitment to patient choice, the endÂ
result of these reforms will undermine the choice that is most important to patients - access to comprehensive,Â
trustworthy, and local health services.
The situation is grave. The value of the NHS is immense and cannot be mirrored by the private sector. It must beÂ
kept in public hands, serving the interests of all patients and the broader public, not the private healthcareÂ
industry.
We therefore call on organisations, healthcare workers, patients and the public to campaign to protect the NHSÂ
from further privatisation and fragmentation, and to keep our NHS public.Â
For a detailed explanation of the urgency of the situation, and to find out how you can help, please visit our webÂ
site at www.KeepOurNHSPublic.com.â
10. What you can do:
⢠Join Keep Our NHS Public
⢠Get your friends, work colleagues, trade union branch,
pensioners group, community organisation or hospital campaign to
join up, too, and make a donation to kick off a local campaign.
  ⢠Set up a local meeting to bring together campaigners to defend
your local services.
⢠Set up a local branch of Keep Our NHS Public, or campaign
alongside other community groups and campaigners under this
banner
⢠Get signatures on our petition, lobby local MPs, councillors and
NHS organisations demanding a halt to cuts, privatisation and
commercialisation of health care
⢠Build a public event - contact us for a list of possible speakers.
⢠Help us build a movement big enough to force a change. See
our campaign checklist for more information and ideas.
For further details about joining Keep Our NHS Public and how you
can be involved, download our flyer (Acrobat pdf file, 590 KB).
Editor's Notes
PREVENTION AS WELL AS TREATMENT â investment in prevention of disease as well as on treatment WIDER DETERMINANTS AS WELL AS HEALTHCARE â recognition that the wider determinants such as income, education and employment are as important in promoting the nationâs health as healthcare INTERNATIONALISM â recognition of the UKâs international obligations to developing nations in respect of trade agreements and the importation of scarce healthcare personnel SOLIDARITY â working in close collaboration with other like minded bodies such as trade unions and the other socialist societies LOCALISM â decision making as near as possible to where it will have impact and at community level wherever practicable AN INTEGRATED, WHOLE SYSTEMS APPROACH â health, social care and wellbeing services provided through partnership working as integrated packages tailored to the needs of user, not the convenience of providers COOPERATIVE ENDEAVOUR â a cooperative approach to the running of public, voluntary and private sector services with worker and user participation PREVENTION AS WELL AS TREATMENT â investment in prevention of disease as well as on treatment WIDER DETERMINANTS AS WELL AS HEALTHCARE â recognition that the wider determinants such as income, education and employment are as important in promoting the nationâs health as healthcare INTERNATIONALISM â recognition of the UKâs international obligations to developing nations in respect of trade agreements and the importation of scarce healthcare personnel SOLIDARITY â working in close collaboration with other like minded bodies such as trade unions and the other socialist societies LOCALISM â decision making as near as possible to where it will have impact and at community level wherever practicable AN INTEGRATED, WHOLE SYSTEMS APPROACH â health, social care and wellbeing services provided through partnership working as integrated packages tailored to the needs of user, not the convenience of providers COOPERATIVE ENDEAVOUR â a cooperative approach to the running of public, voluntary and private sector services with worker and user participation PREVENTION AS WELL AS TREATMENT â investment in prevention of disease as well as on treatment WIDER DETERMINANTS AS WELL AS HEALTHCARE â recognition that the wider determinants such as income, education and employment are as important in promoting the nationâs health as healthcare INTERNATIONALISM â recognition of the UKâs international obligations to developing nations in respect of trade agreements and the importation of scarce healthcare personnel SOLIDARITY â working in close collaboration with other like minded bodies such as trade unions and the other socialist societies LOCALISM â decision making as near as possible to where it will have impact and at community level wherever practicable AN INTEGRATED, WHOLE SYSTEMS APPROACH â health, social care and wellbeing services provided through partnership working as integrated packages tailored to the needs of user, not the convenience of providers COOPERATIVE ENDEAVOUR â a cooperative approach to the running of public, voluntary and private sector services with worker and user participation PREVENTION AS WELL AS TREATMENT â investment in prevention of disease as well as on treatment WIDER DETERMINANTS AS WELL AS HEALTHCARE â recognition that the wider determinants such as income, education and employment are as important in promoting the nationâs health as healthcare INTERNATIONALISM â recognition of the UKâs international obligations to developing nations in respect of trade agreements and the importation of scarce healthcare personnel SOLIDARITY â working in close collaboration with other like minded bodies such as trade unions and the other socialist societies LOCALISM â decision making as near as possible to where it will have impact and at community level wherever practicable AN INTEGRATED, WHOLE SYSTEMS APPROACH â health, social care and wellbeing services provided through partnership working as integrated packages tailored to the needs of user, not the convenience of providers COOPERATIVE ENDEAVOUR â a cooperative approach to the running of public, voluntary and private sector services with worker and user participation