The public's view of the NHS at 75
Above all, the health service makes people proud to be British, more than a) our history b) our culture c) our system of democracy d) the royal family. Also, the NHS being free at the point of use, affordable and paid for via tax is the aspect that make people (55% of respondents) most proud. So despite the real Tory opinion of a health service being free and paid for by general taxation, we, the people believe in the NHS.

Doctors think Tories want to destroy the NHS
The NHS is in a state of “managed decline” because recent governments had made “a conscious political decision” to deny it adequate resources or tackle staff shortages. So said BMA chairman Professor Philip Banfield. "Most frontline medics believe ministers are seeking to destroy the NHS because they have starved it of cash and mistreated its staff.

Why not bring it in-house?
The government has issued a tender for private firms to run the NHS Supply Chain, which was privatised by the Coalition government in 2006. Read here the reasons for the Covid PPE catastrophe and why  ithe NHS Supply Chain needs to be brought into public ownership.

Kings Fund: NHS versus other countries
The NHS was compared to the health systems of similar countries. The UK has below-average health spending per person compared to other countries, it lags behind in its capital investment and has substantially fewer key physical resources, including computerised tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners and hospital beds. The UK has strikingly low levels of doctors and nurses, and is heavily reliant on foreign-trained staff.

Former Public Health England boss ...
At the Covid enquiry, Duncan Selbie who was chief executive of PHE said the Treasury insisted on cuts to public health to allow spending on the general NHS to increase. Public health took the hit for Treasury demands for cuts.  The grant for these services was reduced by 14 per cent in real terms in the six years running up to 2021.

Even the Kings Fund is saying it
The UK “underperforms significantly” on tackling its biggest killer diseases, in part because it has been weakened by years of underinvestment. The comparative study of 19 well-off nations concluded that Britain achieves only “below average” health outcomes because it spends a “below average” amount for every person on healthcare.

Private sector can't solve the NHS waiting list crisis
NHS campaigner John Lister says "The evidence that choice itself makes a difference to waiting lists is largely inconclusive. Patients are sceptical, asking why they should be expected to shop around when they just want a good local hospital". A recent Health Foundation report has also warned that use of the private sector can only have a “limited impact” on tackling things like NHS backlog.

Palantir awarded NHS data contract
Despite considerable public concern, Palantir has been awarded a contract to ‘transition’ existing NHS projects into the new federated data platform. Palantir had no track record in health; it is mainly an intelligence and defence contractor whose systems support surveillance and policing. Previous NHS data projects have foundered because of a failure to win patient trust, this is no exception.

The risks of using Palantir for NHS data
A Foxglove report has identified the following - the Covid emergency meant the usual procurement rules were waived. The contract's scope is vague, there's a failure to design for patient consent and there are risks to over centralisation. It will lock in a single monopoly provider who has a poor reputation and several Palantir pilot projects have failed.

NHS: a shining jewel of social solidarity
The principles underlying the creation of the NHS continue to exemplify social solidarity expressed through policy: comprehensive medical and health care for all, publicly owned and provided, funded from progressive taxation. Nationally defined pay, conditions and quality standards completed the picture.

Cameron years left UK 'totally unprepared'
The TUC says what we all know, that austerity wrought by Cameron and Osborne left the UK unprepared for the pandemic. They brought not only unsafe staffing in public services and a broken safety net, but funding cuts that caused poverty and therefore greater risks of exposure to Covid-19.

UK spent less on health than rest of Europe
In every year between 2010 and 2019 the UK would have had to spend an additional £73 billion more to match Germany’s spending per person, and £40 billion extra every year to match France.

A decade of neglect
40 new hospitals would be built in England by 2040 was a key manifesto pledge by Boris Johnson in 2019. But the £20 billion so far committed by ministers is only just over half of the estimated need of £37 billion and this doesn't take account of spiralling building material costs.

Stop Palantir's NHS data take over
The government intends to let Palantir create a huge ‘Federated Data Platform’ of patient records; but Palantir's recent history tells us they are totally unfit to be trusted with our health data. Sign the petition and pass on.

Private sector can't solve the waits
John Lister summarizes how the use of the private sector can only have only a limited impact on tackling NHS backlog.

Fortunes earned on PPE contracts
This businessman has made a fortune supplying PPE during the pandemic even though the NHS may be unable to use millions of the gowns his company delivered. And here's a US banker who was paid a £73 million dividend in 2021 after his firm won hundreds of millions in Covid contracts.

A fair analysis of Starmer's NHS policy
There's some promise but a) he reiterates a commitment to private sector delivery b) there must be a substantial funding increase and c) to deliver on increased staff numbers he must offer restorative pay increases. 

Barclay admits to 40 new hospitals lies
He admits not all the hospitals are "brand new", and some are merely new wings or refurbishments. Many won't be built by 2030 as promised.

Capitalism and the rise in mental illness
We live in a social and economic system at odds with both our psychology and our neurology ....what if it's not us who are sick but a system at odds with us as social beings?