UNITE: PM

UNITE: PM’s hollow promises won’t shield NHS from destructive bill

UNITE: PM’s hollow promises won’t shield NHS from destructive bill

Promises today (Tuesday) from the Prime Minister to "protect" the NHS will be meaningless if his government remains determined to force through the most significant and controversial rewriting of the NHS's mission in its sixty year service.

Unite, the country's biggest union, says that widespread distrust of the government's plans to dismantle the NHS have forced the Prime Minister into the astonishing position of making yet another declaration of commitment to the national health service.

However, his words will be met with justified voter anger if, as feared, the pause on the Health and Social Care Bill results in little or no change to the competition-first proposals which have attracted an astonishing degree of criticism from health professionals.

Unite adds that promises to keep waiting lists "low" insult the thousands of people now facing an 18-week or more wait since the government scrapped waiting time commitments as one of its first acts in office.

Rachael Maskell, Unite national officer for the health sector, said: "It looks like the Prime Minister and his deputy, Nick Clegg, have been spinning us a line. Despite the phenomenal criticism of their health bill, their listening exercise was a sham. They are determined that the wasteful competition ethic will be imposed upon the NHS.
"Promises from David Cameron today will not shield patients from a government hell-bent on shackling the NHS to the legislation that will destroy it.

"The debacle of Southern Cross shows all too clearly what happens when competition, cost-cutting and regulatory failure seize hold of an essential service. Tens of thousands of vulnerable people suffer.

"Our legislators will never be forgiven if they now deliver NHS services into a similar fate.

"And neither will the public trust the Prime Minister when one of his promises- low waiting lists – was undermined within moments of his government taking office. When it scrapped waiting targets at the stroke of a pen, it left tens of thousands of patients in uncertainty and distress. Vague promises now, while remaining committed to a bill that will surely mean the return of a postcode lottery of care, are simply an insult.

"All those with the power in parliament must now see past hollow words to the reality of the bill that will soon be before them. Health professionals understand that the only way to continue to improve our NHS is through consensus and with the values of quality care put firmly first. Promises are not the same as consensus.

"The only promise on the NHS worth making now, Prime Minister, is the one to drop this bill and start all over again."

ENDS

For further information, please contact the Unite press office on 020 3371 2065