Everyone should oppose the government’s plans for the NHS. These will be a disaster for staff, patients and future patients. Effectively the service will cease to exist in four years’ time.

What does it mean?

• Tens of thousands of front-line service job losses
• Tens of thousands more job losses for vital admin workers.
• Worse pensions, attacks on pay, worsened terms/conditions
• Total privatisation except for a tiny commissioning board
• More profiteering by private companies from patients’ ill-health
• A sick lottery as companies cherry-pick profitable opportunities
• GPs forced to contract services to private companies

This is on top of the £20bn “efficiency savings” forcing 10% job losses at Gtr Manchester NHS trusts, £104m cut in Central Manchester PCT…

"From a major public service with a million employees, [the NHS] will have become a central fund with a minimal workforce, commissioning services from a string of private companies in a fully-fledged health-care market."  - Seumas Milne, the Guardian.

The media focus has been on the role of local GPs, who are currently self-employed rather than NHS employees, being given responsibility for much of the £100 billion health budget, possibly as much as 80%.

Government minister Lansley wants groups of GPs to come together to run health trusts, which will all be foundation trusts, i.e. privatised. 35,000 doctors could form up to 500 consortia which will then 'buy care' from local hospitals or other providers, including private organisations, and hire admin/management staff. Unison reports that around half of GPs are opposed.

The NHS will be an 'independent' commissioning board to oversee and improve health standards, and control budgets.

Cuts

Only corporate shareholders will gain from this

In June David Cameron warned that the Con-Dem cuts plans would, "affect every single person in our country. And the effects of those decisions will stay with us for years, perhaps decades to come.

The US springs to mind. Lacking a similar model to the NHS, 40 million people in the US live and die without access to health services.

The most vulnerable are most likely to suffer. Two-thirds of GPs say they lack the expertise to commission mental health services.

Lansley wants to end national pay bargaining and agreements: "Pay decisions should be led by health care employers [who will] determine pay for their own staff." Pensions are at risk from this and from the Hutton review of all public sector pensions due to report next year.

Carillion, an “outsourcing contracts” company, is "excited" at the Con-Dems' cuts. The chief executive of Assura Medical is “enthusiastic”. No wonder! Only corporate shareholders will gain from this.

Earlier this year, Tory leader Cameron promised to ringfence NHS funding and for spending to increase above inflation. In reality, 9,973 jobs have been earmarked for redundancy, vacancy freezes, natural wastage, downgrading, or ending temp/agency staff.

The government says that £20 billion of savings is required by 2014. Lansley talks about 'independence' and 'freedom'. In reality he and his coalition of millionaires plan to hammer this bloody plan through.

We must organise now to beat them. There is no time to lose.

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