On Tuesday the 10th July I attended the Labour Party launch of the NHS Pledge in the Gladstone room in Parliament.
Many Councillors were there from all over England to be at the launch, to be part of the NHS pledge.
The Shadow Cabinet Health team spoke to Councillors and answered any questions that we had about the launch.
Andy Burnham MP , Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary spoke about the challenges the NHS is facing due to the Health and Social Act that was passed earlier this year.
Andy said :
“I am very proud to be launching the NHS pledge in Parliament today. It will be an invaluable way of showing how Labour Mayors and Labour Councils can make a positive difference to local health provision and defend the things that matter in our NHS.”
“People are particularly angry about what’s happening to our NHS and believe that David Cameron has betrayed them. Before the election he promised no more top-down NHS re-organisations but brought forward the biggest ever, taking £3.45bn away from the frontline and running unforgivable risks with patient safety. The NHS Pledge will show where Labour Councils are making a difference.”
The NHS pledge is a five-point practical attempt to limit the damage of the NHS reorganisation. This means the local Labour Council/ Labour Group will act as patient champions and the last line of defence for Lincolnshire’s NHS, and will call on local health leaders to:
1. Protect NHS founding values
2. Prevent postcode lotteries
3. Guard against longer waits
4. Promote collaboration over competition
5. Put patients before profits
I said:
“I fully support the launch of the NHS Pledge today at Westminster as it will offer a last line of defence for our local health service. I will ask our NHS Wellbeing board in Lincolnshire to adopt five principles to protect the NHS from the worst that David Cameron throws at it. Labour locally will not sit back and wait for things to go wrong in our NHS – it is far too important for that.
“By joining forces we can resist the drive towards the rationing of treatment and the encroachment of charges we are starting to see in our NHS. The Tory-led Government’s NHS re-organisation is already causing real harm to patients and is wasting £46,460,609 in our area.”
