Placard stating NHS Not For Profit
Placard stating NHS Not For Profit

The Tory assault on the NHS continues. If you haven’t already, do check out previous posts from the H&WG Health and Care Group here: Why We Oppose the Government’s Health and Social Care White Paper, and After Covid and Centene: Which Way Forward for Primary Care. 

Since these were written, members of the group have been busy making sure the changes we want to see in the NHS and Health Care are communicated to Labour MPs and councillors and other bodies we can influence that are involved in making decisions.

  • A sub committee of the H&WG Health and Care group updated our amendments to the Health & Care Bill (the document is linked below) and other local campaign groups joined us in submitting them. With the help of our local MP Catherine West, we sent this to the then Labour Shadow Cabinet. This month (January) with the Bill now at the Committee stage in the House of Lords, we also sent our amendments to Baroness Thornton the current Labour Shadow Health Spokesperson there. We have a meeting planned with a member of the new Labour shadow cabinet for when the Bill returns to the Commons.

 

  • In November 2021 we made a deputation to The Joint Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (JHOSC) for North Central London (NCL) on primary care and the impact of privatisation, cuts and winter which was well  received by a cross party group of councillors. (Our written submission, also signed by other local groups, is linked below.) 

 

  • At the beginning of December 2021, by chance we heard that the Health Select Committee was calling for evidence on the Future of General Practice  with a closing date of mid-December. We felt that for such an important issue, the timescale was too short, there was little publicity and the timing was just before Christmas when GP surgeries were working overtime on Covid vaccinations and a substantial backlog.  We made a submission (linked below), and we are planning to brief Labour members of the Select Committee who, like the shadow heath team, are all new. 

In the House of Commons, the government rejected all Labour’s amendments to the Health & Care Bill so we need to think about our campaign tactics for the future. Last year we met with Cllr Lucia das Neves on local campaigning issues in general and both these items will be on the agenda of the group’s next full meeting. Labour Party members are welcome to attend. Click here for contact details for the group provided on our introduction page.

Link to Instagram Link to Twitter Link to YouTube Link to Facebook Link to LinkedIn Link to Snapchat Close Fax Website Location Phone Email Calendar Building Search