{"id":1451,"date":"2018-04-25T17:04:59","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T16:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/?p=1451"},"modified":"2018-04-27T17:11:36","modified_gmt":"2018-04-27T16:11:36","slug":"ealing-elections-where-do-the-parties-stand-on-the-nhs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ealingsaveournhs.org.uk\/?p=1451","title":{"rendered":"Ealing Elections: Where do the Parties stand on the NHS?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ealing Save Our NHS has been campaigning against the planned cuts to Ealing Hospital and opposes the latest plans to contract out and potentially privatise all our community health services. We wrote to the Conservatives, Labour , Liberal Democrats and Greens<\/a>\u00a0 to ask where they stood on each of these important issues for local people. Here are the replies we received.<\/p>\n

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Question 1:\u00a0\u00a0The Big \u201cSell Off\u201d of Ealing\u2019s NHS<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Ealing Clinical Commissioning Group is advertising for a single contractor to run \u201cout of Hospital\u201d services for 10 years. \u00a0This contract, tendering out Ealing\u2019s NHS services is worth over half a billion pounds of public money.<\/em><\/p>\n

Do you support or oppose this tendering out and possible privatisation of huge amounts of NHS services in Ealing? \u00a0Have the local meetings of your Party discussed this proposal and if so what are their views?<\/em><\/p>\n

If your Party supports this tender of NHS services, how do you believe those who won such a huge contract would be accountable to us, the public?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Or, if your party opposes this tendering out of public services, just what has it done about it?<\/em>[\/dropshadowbox]<\/p>\n

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EALING LABOUR PARTY<\/h3>\n
Ealing Labour are now, and always have been, against the privatisation of our NHS services.
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We have, as a Council, expressed our objections to the CCG and made it clear to them that we don\u2019t agree with this decision and will continue to do so.<\/div>\n
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EALING LIBERAL DEMOCRATS (Gary Malcolm)<\/h3>\n

This issue has not really been made very public by the government which is very sad given its likely importance. My party take a position where the default is not to privatise something like health. However there have been cases where testing of some types of cancer was done more cheaply and as accurately as the NHS. This contract is so large that once done it would be impossible to stop so it is crucial that it does not go ahead. I have spoke publicly\u00a0about the matter since I was made aware of it.<\/p>\n

EALING GREEN PARTY<\/h3>\n

The Green Party is unequivocally opposed to privatisation of the NHS, and any contracting out of public health services to for-profit enterprises.<\/span>

We believe that the profit motive distorts the ethos of care on which the NHS was built. Prioritising anything other than patient welfare creates a \u2018race to the bottom\u2019 and creams off taxpayer\u2019s money to shareholders, when it should pay for doctors, nurses and equipment. We think privatised services offer worse value and worse care.<\/span>

Private sector providers are not held accountable via mechanisms such as Freedom of Information requests. They have no place in our NHS.<\/span>

Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP, introduced a bill to roll back NHS privatisation recently in Parliament.<\/span><\/span>

Caroline presents cross-party Bill to restore and fully safeguard our NHS | Caroline Lucas<\/a>

This shows how committed the Green Party is to a people\u2019s NHS for the common good. We must fund a public NHS properly and stop making doctors into bookkeepers. It is also important that the NHS focuses on making sick people better, and the Green Party would enable this by funding mental health and social care properly.<\/span>

Keeping people healthier in the first place is an important supporting pillar the NHS. By taking responsibility for the terrible housing conditions many are forced to endure, as well as dramatically reducing air pollution and promoting healthy living, a joined-up Green government would provide a comprehensive network of health services without any privatisation.<\/span>

Locally, the first job must be to get more transparency about any dealings the Council may have with Ealing NHS bosses. We all deserve a say in the future of our NHS.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Question 2\u00a0The Future of Ealing Hospital<\/h2>\n

The plans to cut the blue light A&E and hundreds of beds at Ealing hospital have not substantially changed since they were made 6 years ago? Do you support those plans, as laid out in \u201cShaping a Healthier Future\u201d?<\/em><\/p>\n

If your Party supports the plans to somehow replace hundreds of hospital beds with health care in the community, please explain how on earth this this could work as there are so far no examples in the UK or abroad.<\/em><\/p>\n

If your Party opposes the plans, can you specify what your party has done about it?<\/em>.[\/dropshadowbox]<\/p>\n

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EALING LABOUR PARTY<\/h3>\n
Saving Ealing and Charing Cross Hospitals has been a top priority for the Labour-run Council and Ealing Labour have pledged to continue this fight if re-elected.\u00a0

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We do not just offer kind words but put our money where our mouth is. Including:

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