The NHS will be one of the hot topics of debate during the run up to this General Election and it is so important for the many, not the few.
This is an opportunity to demand the kind of NHS we want and deserve after decades of privatisation and cuts to services.
There is a desperate need to change the narrative around the NHS and social care. Yes, we need better budgets for both these services, but these alone will not achieve a return to the NHS we really want.
A whole raft of policies need to be reviewed and potentially thrown into the bin. Because it is not the NHS that has failed, it is the policies of those in power.
Every time there is a change of government, there is a reform the NHS agenda which wastes even more money.
The National Pensioners’ Convention suspects that removing the NHS social care from the political agenda would give stability and growth in the right direction, but that will not happen any time soon.
The NPC policy of a National Care Service free at the point of need would begin to deal with the unacceptable lack of access to even basic care needs.
It requires to be fully funded, publicly run and accountable and to give care workers the respect they deserve by having their own Professional Body and pay structure.
The NPC policy demands parity of illness, so that no one has to pay exorbitant care costs just because their condition doesn’t meet someone else’s criteria.
To be effective, the National Care Service must work alongside the NHS. So what will this require?
Publicly funded – end privately funded services.
A workforce that is respected and valued
Along with decent pay and conditions.
It’s time for real change.
Rodney Sadd
Crowland
