In 2018 for the 70th Anniversary of the NHS, Sussex Defend the NHS gathered more than 2000 testimonies from local residents about what the NHS meant to them.
Displaying the scroll in its entirety for the first time on 5th July 2020 was our way of saying Thank You to all our NHS staff and other care workers for what they’ve done during for us during the Covid crisis. It is a 110-metre-long illustration of how important the NHS is to everyone in this country – and how critical it is to support it properly in the future. This year our appreciation was deepened by knowledge of the lives lost to Covid 19 of health and care workers and disproportionately those from black and minority ethnic communities. We are angry too, that many deaths could have been avoided if the government had locked down sooner, hadn’t neglected its pandemic stockpile, hadn’t abandoned Social Care services to the private sector and their hedge funds, hadn’t delayed publishing its report’s recommendations on safeguarding BAME workers, and hadn’t decimated the public structures available for testing, tracing and tracking.
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After everything which has been sacrificed, we see the government cynically using the crisis and its aftermath to accelerate privatisation, giving huge contracts to the likes of Serco and DeLoitte and Internet giants for badly- functioning test and trace systems. It’s trying to bail out and boost the for-profit Private Hospital sector by handing over all elective surgery, threatening that temporary reductions in NHS provision are made permanent. And it’s pushing with all its might for the expansion of on-line services to replace GP and out-patient appointments, in the interest of its US and other lobbyists in the private on-line health care sector. And all this further enabled by its US Trade Deals.
Accelerating Privatisation After everything which has been sacrificed, we see the government cynically using the crisis and its aftermath to accelerate privatisation, giving huge contracts to the likes of Serco and DeLoitte and Internet giants for badly- functioning test and trace systems. It’s trying to bail out and boost the for-profit Private Hospital sector by handing over all elective surgery, threatening that temporary reductions in NHS provision are made permanent. And it’s pushing with all its might for the expansion of on-line services to replace GP and out-patient appointments, in the interest of its US and other lobbyists in the private on-line health care sector. And all this further enabled by its US Trade Deals. So, what can we do? If you work in health or social care: keep active in your Union and demand better pay and conditions for health and social-care workers; campaign against migrant-charging Join up with Nurses United or People before Profit Covid Activists group Publicise and join some of the events listed on Calendar page, and encourage others to sign up to our campaign group. (Please only attend events if you are currently well, are not in a Covid high risk group, and are satisfied you can keep a safe distance). Take a look at this official local survey from Sussex Health Care Commissioners, which tries to elicit your approval of on-line services, and think about what may be lost if you opt for them. Display your placards and posters Demand answers from the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Health and Wellbeing Board (Wed 15th July and Tues 28th July, Hove Town Hall) Unions say increase would make staff feel more valued and help boost flagging economy
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/jul/03/unions-call-for-early-pay-rise-for-nhs-staff |
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Sussex Defend the NHS Archives
February 2023
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