Political Party Launched for Anti-NHS reforms
- 15 Nov
A group of healthcare professionals is today launching a new political party dedicated to opposing the government's reforms of the NHS.
The National Health Action party is aiming to put up 50 candidates at the next general election to campaign against the coalition's Health and Social Care Act.
The party's members say the Act - which was pushed through Parliament by the coalition despite fierce opposition from NHS professionals, patient groups, unions and Labour - will allow the NHS in England to be "broken up and sold off".
It is co-led by Richard Taylor, a former Kidderminster hospital consultant who was MP for Wyre Forest from 2001 to 2010, and Clive Peedell, a consultant clinical oncologist and co-chair of the NHS Consultants' Association.
Dr Taylor caused an upset in 2001 by campaigning against the closure of the accident and emergency department at Kidderminster General Hospital.
His new party is strongly critical of the coalition's handling of the NHS and hopes Labour will repeal the Act if it wins the 2015 election. It may not help Ed Miliband, however, as an NHS-focused party is likely to appeal to natural Labour voters.
The National Health Action party, whose members will gather in Westminster today with stethoscopes and wearing scrubs and white coats, says that the Act will make the NHS "more expensive, wasteful and unequal".
The party's website says:
Quite apart from the direct effects on healthcare provision, the destruction of the NHS also marks the violation of important social values.
The NHS was more than just a structure for the delivery of healthcare. It was also a social institution that reflected national solidarity, expressed the values of equity and universalism, and institutionalised the duty of government to care for all in society.
The NHS marked out a space in society where the dictates of commerce and the market were held in check so as to give expression to socially directed goals, for individuals and society as a whole. Thus the NHS became the glue that holds together the social fabric of our nation.
As the NHS is under so much threat, we believe that a new political party is needed to defend the NHS and its values, and we have therefore set up the National Health Action party.Source: Nursing Times
Related articles
- 30 May
THE PRESENT FIRST PRIME MINISTER OF SCOTLAND IS TO PLEDGE AGAINST ANY PLANS TO PRIVATISE THE NHS
It is also expected that Sturgeon will do the following as proof of her party's commitment to fighting against further austerity:Sturgeon said this before Tuesday's manifesto launch:"While the polls...
- 17 Mar
402 MILLION POUNDS WILL BE INVESTED IN COUNCILS WITH THE GREATEST HOMELESSNESS DEMAND FROM APRIL 2017
Presently, funding is only used for homeless households and not for the prevention of homelessness in the first instance.The funding by the Department for Communities and Local Government is set to...
Responding to the DWP Consultation: Housing Benefit Reform - Supported Housing "It was well-run, in a good location, and very useful. I've only one suggestion; as the session went on it would perhaps have been useful for bullet points of general agreement about what should be in the sector response to be displayed and added to as the session went on, maybe on a flip chart. Regarding your response paper, I particularly like the answer you give to question 9. In fact the general: "if it ain't broke don't fix it" response could be pushed harder." M.P. - Adref Ltd