{"id":3817,"date":"2015-04-22T12:53:16","date_gmt":"2015-04-22T11:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=3817"},"modified":"2015-04-22T14:56:10","modified_gmt":"2015-04-22T13:56:10","slug":"how-ukip-would-run-nhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=3817","title":{"rendered":"How Ukip would run NHS"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Health spokespersons from four parties \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Labour, Conservative, Lib-Dem and Ukip \u00e2\u20ac\u201c took to the stage yesterday (April 21) to debate the future of the NHS at the British Medical Association.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

As the election nears, what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s to be done about the NHS funding crisis and its organisation to ensure its long-term future is a debate that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s now more important than ever before.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But perhaps not so important for two of the parties, with health secretary Jeremy Hunt turning up to the debate several minutes late. He joined the panel with an opening joke, excusing himself for his tardiness : \u00e2\u20ac\u015bI think we had a toxic, top-down reorganisation of London traffic that nobody voted for and nobody wanted\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a reference to his party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own disastrous health and social care act.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ukip\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s official health spokesperson, Louise Bours MEP, didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even show, sending in her stead another Ukip MEP, Julia Reid.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Her party, one that has wavered on its stance towards NHS privatisation, vacillating from one position to its polar opposite, extended the tack it has taken only recently to shore up more votes as the election approaches.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Simplistic<\/strong> <\/em><\/p>\n

In her opening remarks, Reid contended that Ukip is the only party that has accounted for the \u00c2\u01413bn per year it hopes to spend on the NHS, in a painfully simplistic formulation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00c2\u01418bn saved from withdrawing from the EU, \u00c2\u01414bn by scrapping HS2 and \u00c2\u01412bn in savings from putting a stop to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bhealth tourism\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 by immigrants.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Never mind that Ukip itself revised the \u00c2\u01412bn a year figure saved by non-UK nationals being barred access to the health service, downgrading savings to \u00c2\u0141500m in their first year and \u00c2\u0141900m in their second<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even these lower figures have been officially contested, with the Department of Health estimating<\/a> so-called \u00e2\u20ac\u015bhealth tourism\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 to cost the public purse between \u00c2\u014120m and \u00c2\u0141100m \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a drop in the bucket considering the health service\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s overall funding gap.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

That Reid herself isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t familiar with her own party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s manifesto demonstrates the extent to which Ukip\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s leadership is scrambling with little more than two weeks left to go until May 7.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When pressed on whether Ukip sided with Labour in repealing the health and social care act \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a coalition government piece of legislation that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s thrown open the floodgates for untrammelled NHS privatisation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Reid reluctantly agreed: \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe would be, yes.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cut back to the party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s manifesto<\/a>, however, and a different story emerges \u00e2\u20ac\u201c only once is the act mentioned at all, and in the context of criticising Labour for its pledge to repeal it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

On the other hand, Labour is the only party that has, since the beginning, opposed the health and social care act, pledging to rescind part 3 of the act which requires the NHS to competitively tender contracts.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIf you allow this market experiment to advance into the heart of the NHS, you will in the end destroy everything that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s precious about it,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said at the debate. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bIt will in the end break it apart.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Burnham noted a hospital in the south of England which went against planned privatisation.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015b[It] recently stopped privatisation of its musculoskeletal services in the 11th<\/sup> hour because they realised that if they were allow it to go out to the private sector, the finances of the trust would be fundamentally unviable,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEvidence from around the world will tell you that market-based healthcare systems cost more \u00e2\u20ac\u201c not less \u00e2\u20ac\u201c than national systems like the NHS.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ukip\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stance on privatisation of the NHS saw Reid broach\u00e2\u20ac\u201dalbeit awkwardly\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe issue of TTIP, an EU- US trade deal whose passage could signal irreversible privatisation of the health service.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ukip? TTIP?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUkip are the only party that is committed not to vote for Ukip,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said, before the presenter Sarah Montague corrected her, saying she meant \u00e2\u20ac\u015bTTIP\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was an unfortunate, if not telling, slip of the tongue. After all, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Ukip\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s own confused and confusing leadership that will ultimately drive voters away from its party in two weeks\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 time.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And what of the claim that Ukip is the \u00e2\u20ac\u015bonly party\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 committed not to voting for Ukip..err..TTIP?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s manifesto pledge only goes as far as to exclude the NHS from TTIP, a move that Reid puzzlingly said was \u00e2\u20ac\u015bnot possible\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, yet again contradicting her own party\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s platform. Reid went on to emphasise that Ukip would not sign TTIP, a pledge that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s completely absent from the manifesto.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Instead, the official party line on the trade agreement is couched only in anti-EU rhetoric.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFears of what TTIP might contain precisely illustrate why Ukip believes we should leave the EU and negotiate our own free trade agreements again,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the manifesto reads.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ukip\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hypocrisy over TTIP was highlighted in a Left Foot Forward blog piece last week<\/a>, in which staff writer Ruby Stockham noted:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis is why UKIP\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s manifesto pledge on TTIP is nothing to do with public concern, and instead demonstrates pure egotism. They do want the undemocratic TTIP deal; they just wish they had thought of it themselves.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ukip\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s spokesperson again fumbled on another issue of heated debate in the health service \u00e2\u20ac\u201c unacceptably low staff pay.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While Tory health secretary Jeremy Hunt was forced to admit that he \u00e2\u20ac\u015bcould not make the commitment now [to no more real terms pay cuts]\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 because he \u00e2\u20ac\u015bdidn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know the full situation\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, a noncommittal Reid simply said real terms pay cuts were \u00e2\u20ac\u015bunfair\u00e2\u20ac\u0165. Asked about NHS executives being paid too much, her response \u00e2\u20ac\u201c \u00e2\u20ac\u015bPersonally, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 but it would \u00e2\u20ac\u015bneed to be addressed somehow\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was only Labour\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Burnham who committed to no more real terms pay cuts decisively, who, when asked if he could stand by the pledge, said, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bYes I can.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Burnham added, “Also, we must reinstate the independent pay review body stood down by Jeremy Hunt. How else do you get fairness in pay if ministers are imposing what they want rather than an independent process that judges what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s affordable for the NHS but what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also fair to staff?\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

‘Not my brief ‘<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Hunt shot back a line he repeated throughout the debate, that the NHS funding gap could be dealt with exclusively on the wings of a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bstrong economy\u00e2\u20ac\u0165. Ukip\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Reid seemed unabashedly clueless, at one point noting toward the end that health \u00e2\u20ac\u015bwasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t my brief\u00e2\u20ac\u0165. Lib-Dem health spokesperson Norman Lamb waffled throughout, always agreeing with the various panelists and audience concerns but never getting to the point of what must be done to save the NHS.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was only Burnham who took seriously the urgent crisis faced in the NHS, holding forth specific policies that would undo the worst of the Tories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 damage, including pledges on fair pay, an end to privatisation and integrating health and social care, with more funding for social care to stop the root of the crisis now faced by A&E.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Burnham concluded:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe NHS can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t go through another five years like the five years it has just had. The situation is far more dire than what has been recognised this morning. We need to take the politics out of the NHS and that means repealing the health and social care act. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to stop this drive towards privatisation and fragmentation. But more than anything and finally, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve got to do one simple thing \u00e2\u20ac\u201c give something back to the staff that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in short supply: hope.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Watch the full health debate here.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Health spokespersons from four parties \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Labour, Conservative, Lib-Dem and Ukip \u00e2\u20ac\u201c took to the stage yesterday (April 21) to debate the future of the NHS at the British Medical Association.   As the election nears, what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s to be done about the NHS funding crisis and its organisation to ensure its long-term future is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3820,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[224,29],"wps_subtitle":"Four parties health debate shows Ukip clueless on NHS ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3817"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3817"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3819,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3817\/revisions\/3819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}