Pic - Lois Davis & Larry Sanders both supporting the motion
DEFEND OUR NHS!
Support the motion at GPEW Conference!
The Ecosocialist Group Green Left spoke to Lois Davis from Wandsworth Green Party on why it is important for Greens to oppose the pending Health and Care Act proposed by the Tory Government. This after the massive sacrifices of Health and Care workers in protecting the community during Covid Pandemic.
Q. Hi Lois, you, Larry Sanders and fellow NHS Campaigners, including Green Left members have pulled together a motion for debate at the forthcoming Green Party Conference. Why?
A. Because there's a horrendous Bill going through parliament right now that will pretty much be the final nail in the coffin of the NHS as we know it. It's called the Health and Care Bill (soon to be an Act) but it would be more accurate to call it the Corporate Takeover Bill.
It will bring more reductions and closures, pushing those who can afford it into paying for their health care and leaving those who can't without the care they desperately need; it will bring more leakage of public money to private shareholders and lay the foundation for outsourcing the provision of health services to giant multinationals; it will undermine pay and conditions for an already appallingly ill-treated workforce and exacerbate already critical staff shortages. It's frightening!
Q. Could you explain the main points of the motion?
A. It's a really simple motion designed to update our health policies in the light of this onslaught. It states our intention to repeal the 2022 Health & Care Act and any remaining provisions of the 2012 Act and to reinstate the NHS as a public service free at the point of use and devoid of free market mechanisms.
It also seeks to ensure health rights post Brexit because we are no longer covered by the European Charter of Fundamental Rights and to explicitly exclude all health and care from international trade agreements.
Q. Greens have strong policies about Reinstatement of the NHS, Ending Privatisation and giving mental health more resources, not least the excellent motion passed at the last conference that committed the party to free social care for all adults to the highest standards and involvement in England (https://www.
A. Passing this motion will help galvanise our efforts to safeguard what is probably the most precious asset we have apart from the environment itself.
Q. As we speak, local campaigns are taking action to oppose the Health and Care Bill/Act. Could Greens be doing more?
A. It's been great to see the Green Party Trade Union group being really active on publicising and supporting the actions of hospital workers in unions like GMB and Unite who are standing up for pay and conditions and just about every Green I know will be out locally on the big SOS NHS day of action on the 26 February.
But yes. Absolutely! there is always more we could be doing. I'm hoping Green councillors will get involved in resisting the bid to allow private companies to make decisions about NHS spending in their local areas, which is something that is happening even before the bill has been passed.
And we also need to do more to expose what lies behind this dangerous bill. Those growing waiting lists causing pain and misery, those workers reaching breaking point because there just aren't enough staff and resources to go round, those failures to reach the people who need care the most are not because the government can't afford a public health system that is fit for purpose.
They are part of what Chomsky identifies as "the standard technique of privatization: defund, make sure things don’t work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital.” We need to claw our NHS back from Serco, Virgin, G4S et all and send the message loud and clear "OUR NHS IS NOT FOR SALE"
Thank you, Lois, for proposing such an important motion.
DEFENCE OF THE NHS MOTION (E02)
SYNOPSIS
We need to update our existing Health policy to reflect our opposition to the 2022 Health and Care Act and to escalating privatisation of health and social care provision in England and Wales.
MOTION
In HE105, delete all after “will repeal the” and insert “the Health and Care Act 2022 in its entirety and the remaining provisions of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.” HE105 would then read: “The Green Party will repeal the Health and Care Act 2022 in its entirety and the remaining provisions of the Health and Social Care Act 2012.”
Add new HE106: “The Green Party will legislate to guarantee health rights previously covered by the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, notably the right of access to preventive health care and the right to benefit from medical treatment.”
Add new HE1305, as follows: “The NHS and all policies linked to health care and the pricing of medicines will be explicitly excluded from all international trade agreements.”
Add new HE1504, as follows: “Measures will be introduced to protect whistle-blowers in order that speaking out is safeguarded, not least when workers alert the media and others to areas of concern in the NHS.”
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