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Health
The NHS is costing
us more and more each year and yet we are getting worse service and are
more poorly than ever before. The rise in MRSA, the so-called superbug,
continues whilst our hospitals are
being sold off to expensive private companies who profit from our ill
health. And all the time the aspects of life that cause us to become
ill are not
being addressed.
Current
government policy is ‘fiddling while Rome burns’. The supposed
promotion of choice does nothing to ensure that efficient and effective
health care is provided locally and actually limits many of the true
freedoms currently enjoyed. Drug companies have provided us with some
great advancements, but they are also increasingly draining resources
from the NHS and trying to exert more and more influence over our
doctors and nurses.
Unless the root causes of ill health are addressed the NHS will become
unaffordable and only those able to pay will be able to access health
care. The aging population will be a real challenge in 30 to 40 years
unless we act now.
We believe wholeheartedly in a high quality NHS that
is
publicly funded, publicly owned, and publicly accountable. We opposes
privatisation of all public services and the market economy -
health care is not a commodity to be bought and sold. Not only does the
UK have
pressure from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) through the General
Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) to open its services to overseas competition, but the other main parties all
promote privatisation policies such as the Private Finance Initiative
(PFI) and Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), which undermine public
accountability and leave communities with a future bill to pay and no
guarantee of quality.
Maidstone Green Party has signed up to the 'Keep Our NHS Public' Campaign, both locally and nationally. Maidstone Green Party is now collecting signatures in support of this campaign and you can sign online with us here.
Local provision and access to hospitals are
essential to maintain thriving communities and a good quality of life
for all. We believes that it remains the responsibility of government
to ensure high quality provision, to retain full democratic control
over them for the people, and to be held fully accountable to the
citizens of the UK.
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