Back
in 2010, David Cameron told us how he could be trusted with the NHS. All the
evidence now tells us that he was wrong. The NHS is going backwards:
- Accident and Emergency is already in crisis with almost
1 million patients waiting longer than 4 hours in A&E over the last 12
months.
- There are over 5,000 fewer nurses since 2010
- £3 billion has been wasted on a reorganisation nobody wanted and nobody voted for.
The
government has completely lost its way on public health
- David Cameron promised to get tough on smoking but,
instead, just caved in to big tobacco and vested interests.
- 41 organisations have quit the Government’s public
health responsibility deal, including Cancer Research UK and the Faculty
of Public Health
The
government is now planning a massive switch of health resources from north to
south, from urban to rural and from the poorest to the wealthiest communities.
This month, University of Liverpool researchers said the proposals would
penalise
- areas where people die earliest
- places with the worst quality of life
- areas hit hardest by council cuts
Prof. Paul Johnstone, Public Health England’s regional director in the North,
confirms that the biggest causes of early death under the age of 75 in England
are cancer, heart disease and stroke, lung and liver disease, with figures
showing most areas of the North are worst hit by premature deaths. Eleven out
of 15 council areas in Yorkshire have among the worst rates of premature death
from lung disease in the country and nine out of 15 have among the worst
records on early deaths from heart disease and cancer. Five out of the 15 have
the among the worst records on early deaths from liver disease
Yet
the Yorkshire Post confirms that every part of the NHS in Yorkshire would lose
out under the changes, costing the region £416m in total and the North £722m
overall. Sheffield alone would lose health funding of nearly £50m every year to
healthier and wealthier communities in the south.
And
Cameron and Clegg continue to break their promises on transparency by:
- still refusing to publish the NHS Risk Register
- resorting to unprecedented measures to cover up the
warnings they were given about their reckless re-organisation.
- refusing to extend Freedom of Information legislation to cover private providers delivering NHS services, against the recommendations of the regulator, Monitor.
Do
I trust them with the NHS? No.
