7 December 2019 — Off Guardian
Last week (November 27th), at a press conference, Jeremy Corbyn unveiled dozens of leaked documents. Documents showing that Boris Johnson – and the Tories in general – are lying when they say there are no plans to open up the NHS to US trade.
7 December 2019 — John Pilger
29 November 2019 — Novara Media
This week Corbyn revealed un-redacted trade documents detailing talks between the Conservative government and the Trump administration between 2016 – now. He argued they prove the NHS is indeed up for sale, contradicting Boris Johnson. We asked two medical doctors to explain the papers. Featuring Dr Rita Issa and Dr Timesh Pillay.
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8 November 2019 — John Pilger
The new John Pilger film, The Dirty War on the NHS, will be released in cinemas in the UK on 1 December and broadcast on the ITV Network on 17 December.
The film’s launch will straddle an extraordinary period in Britain, especially an election campaign which, for the first time for years, offers voters a genuine choice. The film’s theme, the privatisation and destruction of the NHS, is already a major election issue.
“The Dirty War,” says Pilger at the beginning of the film, “is about democracy. Above all, it is a warning.”
For screenings and tickets, go to www.thedirtywaronnhs.com
7 November 2019 — LSE Politics and Policy – True Publica
Political parties are making all sorts of claims to save the NHS from its current financial strangulation and the privatisation drive, mainly because a general election is due and the NHS is inevitably used a political football. This report really is quite explosive, not least because the general public has been ‘hoodwinked’ into believing that only 7 per cent of the NHS budget is spent on private contractors. However, are claims of eradicating privatisation unachievable given its current scale and depth?
1 October 2019 — True Publica
The Guardian reported last week that Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock plan to “rein in” NHS privatisation in a new NHS Bill to be published next month. NHS England (NHSE) has released a document detailing “22 key changes it believes will be included” in such a bill, and the Guardian tells us their proposals are “likely” to be accepted by government.
Whether any of this will actually happen, given the current level of political uncertainty, is a moot point, of course.
22 August 2019 — True Publica
By TruePublica: The Institute for Economic Affairs is renowned for being the most powerful and influential think tank in Britain. Modelled around a right-wing American opaque so-called ‘institute’ it is littered with dodgy donors and surrounded by accusations of dark money interests. Its assaults on public health initiatives, given its real motivations, should be a warning of what might come under a UK/US trade deal and we should be worried if we value Britain’s most revered public institution – the NHS under a Boris Johnson government.
17 August 2019 — WSWS
The Department of Health and Social Care’s annual report reveals that last year saw a record £9.2 billion of the National Health Service (NHS) budget going to private investors, such as Virgin Care and Priory mental health group.
15 August 2019 — WSWS
Hospital workers in Bradford, England, facing the backdoor privatisation of their jobs have voted to take indefinite strike action from August 26.
This is the latest in a series of disputes that have hit the National Health Service (NHS) in the last four months—in Merseyside, Cornwall, Blackpool, South London, Birmingham and Doncaster, involving workers in pharmacy, catering, cleaning, domestic services, porters, building services and security.
16 July 2019 — True Publica
By TruePublica: There is a lot going wrong in the world today and big tech is driving much of it in its indomitable thirst for ever greater global influence and markets to profit from. In the meantime, the British government is already making many moves to ‘Americanise’ society and continues towards its unpopular privatisation model in healthcare. These are not the musings of TruePublica’s editor. Professionals at the heart of the artificial intelligence community, privacy, civil liberty and healthcare are alarmed the NHS has teamed up with certain tech firms with scant care for patient outcomes especially with the latest announcement of American behemoth Amazon giving health advice.
17 May 2019 — True Publica
TruePublica Editor: You may have read various reports in the media this last week about falling GP numbers. Below is the unedited output from the National Health Executive where the mainstream media got their numbers from.
10 May 2019 — OurNHS
Private healthcare firms have just been offered a substantial say in deciding how billions of pounds of NHS mental health money is spent.
Jessica Ormerod Deborah Harrington
“No privatisation of the NHS on my watch,” said Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health, shortly after taking up his post. But this week the Health Services Journal (HSJ) revealed that “Providers offered control of NHSE budgets worth billions” (paywall). The article is explicit that the private healthcare sector is central among those now being offered control of at least £2billion of mental health cash.
