Our Contemporary Resolution for the Labour Party Conference:
Conference notes:
August 3rd letter sent to English NHS Trusts by Monitor, declaring that current financial plans are ‘’quite simply unaffordable’’ and that Trusts should fill vacancies ‘’only where essential’’
August 4th report by the Chartered Institute for Public Finance which notes government hopes of saving £22bn over the next 5 years are already ‘’optimistic’’, taking no account of pledges to increase 7-day services and to introduce a ‘’living wage’’, let alone preventing the knock-on effects on the NHS of government’s failure to invest in social care and its 6.2% cuts this year to grants to Local Authorities for public health. Cipfa warned that drastic solutions are now required which may include a greater reliance on health insurance and / or direct payment by patients towards the cost of their healthcare.
The predicted deficit of £2 billion for NHS trusts in England this year.
Labour should campaign for
- An integrated health and social care system that is free at the point of use, publicly owned, adequately funded and publicly accountable;
- An end to attacks on the sick and disabled and an assessment of the health impact of all government policies;
- no service closures or ‘’reconfigurations’’ without proper local consultation and consent and only where sufficient suitable alternatives are laid down in advance;
- A serious attempt to tackle the causes of ill health as proposed by Sir Michael Marmot: economic inequality, substance abuse, excessive consumption of sugar and insufficient exercise