The NHS is facing its worst crisis ever. This is a national emergency.
In 2010, after a decade of investment, our NHS was delivering its best-ever performance: after more than a decade of austerity – despite heroic efforts by staff – it has sunk to its worst-ever. The problems were there before the pandemic but have been deepened by the continued high level of Covid infections.
We need emergency funds to save lives now.
Health and care staff are under the worst pressure ever, with full beds, huge waiting lists, staff shortages, and an insulting 3% pay offer for workers facing 7.1% inflation (and rising). Legislation is needed to protect the NHS as a publicly-run and funded service, but instead Government refuses to properly invest, while its Health and Care Bill allows greater influence from the private sector. This must change.
Join us Wednesday 19 January 7:00pm
OUR DEMANDS
Approve emergency funding of £20 billion* to save lives this winter
Invest in a fully publicly owned NHS & guarantee free healthcare for future generations
Pay staff properly: without fair pay, staffing shortages will cost lives
This is a national emergency
Our NHS is facing its worst ever crisis, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Here’s why we’re making these demands of the Government now.
This is a national emergency. Government could invest properly in health but over the last decade and more, we’ve seen it doesn’t have the political will to do so. Instead it turns to private sector providers who have failed the NHS time and again, wasting tens of billions during the pandemic. We need change now.
This will be the hardest winter ever in health and social care for a generation. We must act now to save staff morale, avoid a mental health crisis among health and care staff and safeguard services for patients and service users.
There has also been a total failure of government during the pandemic. Public health measures have been undermined and far too many have been allowed to die, especially among vulnerable groups. 47,000 residents in care homes died during the pandemic, and six out of ten deaths overall have been disabled people.
Government policies have led to growing levels of inequality which have exacerbated the crisis. 30% of those admitted to ITU with Covid-19 were of ‘non-white ethnicity’ despite making up only 14% of the population.
The Health and Care Bill addresses none of these problems. It will not put an end to contracts going to the private sector, draining resources from the NHS.
To save lives, we need emergency funds now to make up for an annual deficit of around £35bn. We must recruit and retain more frontline staff and pay them properly. In future we need a return to a fully publicly funded and provided national health service, protected from private companies who put profit before patients.