Collapse: Red Cross called into NHS England because #Tories would rather pay private firms – for nothing

The National Health Service in England has suffered the ultimate humiliation as the Red Cross – a charity – has had to be called in to help save lives – because the grossly-underfunded service simply cannot cope any more.

It has been calculated that the NHS needs £22 billion of extra funds in order to provide anything like an adequate service – but those funds are not available.

It is no coincidence that the money handed over to private healthcare – to part-fund their shareholders’ profits – along with the administration costs that go with the part-privatised system add up to around £22 billion.

So the Conservative Government – Jeremy Hunt, Theresa May, the current cabinet, and previous ministers including David Cameron and former health secretary Andrew Lansley – have engineered this crisis and would rather pay public money, your money, into the bank accounts of shareholders in Virgin Health (for example) than use it to save people who are dying on hospital trolleys as you read these words.

The two deaths at Worcestershire Royal Hospital are only the most visible part of the NHS crisis, as members of the public made clear on Twitter:

https://twitter.com/liamyoung/status/817428053580193794

Members of the public were keen to assign blame equally to all those who consigned the NHS in England to this fate – including the Liberal Democrats whose coalition with the Conservatives from 2010 to 2015 allowed the Health and Social Care Act, which diverted public funds into the hands of private, profit-making companies, to be passed:

Shadow health secretary Angela Rayner pointed out that the Tories had cut off the most obvious available help for overstretched hospitals:

But where is Jeremy Hunt in all this? The Health Secretary is highly conspicuous by his absence.

Of course, his forerunner in the job, Andrew Lansley, abolished the health secretary’s responsibility for the NHS, so perhaps Mr Hunt feels that it’s none of his business.

https://twitter.com/liamyoung/status/817441724586926080

The Conservative Government is responsible for the deaths that have happened – and for any further deaths. Theresa May and Jeremy Hunt might just as well have killed those people themselves. They should be brought to justice for every preventable fatality.

We, the people, need decisive action. This crisis has to end now. It is time to end the privatisation nightmare and restore responsibility to the funding and structure of our health system – before anybody else dies.

https://twitter.com/Lollindialogue/status/817483257692508160

The NHS is facing a “humanitarian crisis” as hospitals and ambulance services struggle to keep up with rising demand, the British Red Cross has said, following the deaths of two patients after long waits on trolleys in hospital corridors.

Worcestershire Royal hospital launched an investigation on Friday into the deaths and did not deny reports that they had occurred after long waits on trolleys in corridors over the new year period.

On Friday, doctors’ leaders said more patients could die because of the chaos engulfing the NHS.

Source: NHS faces ‘humanitarian crisis’ as demand rises, British Red Cross warns

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9 Comments

  1. Catherine Cooper January 7, 2017 at 9:11 am - Reply

    I am in total despair! Everyone knows the NHS is being destroyed and some people say we must stop it, do something, but nothing is happening! Why aren’t people on the streets? People turned out to protest about the poll tax and the Tories had to drop it. Our NHS is the most precious institution in our lives and is essential to most of us! The government only has a majority of 11, why can’t Parliament and the Lords get up off their benches and stop the systematic destruction of the NHS? I am an elderly retired nurse and I am devastated at the lack of care and compassion being given to sick people. Jeremy Corbin and the Labour Party cannot wait until the next General Election, we need a huge, crowd funded campaign now, to tell the country what is happening using hoardings and any other means to notify the public.

    • nivekd January 12, 2017 at 3:55 pm - Reply

      Catherine
      Please don’t despair! People are taking to the streets! There’s a protest against Hunt in London today and there will be ‘howls’ of protest all over the country on 28th January. (We are having one in Merseyside.)
      Then – and most important – a huge march for the NHS on 4th March: https://www.facebook.com/events/1771664639725061/
      Lots of people are taking action of all kinds. There will be something where you live, I’m sure.
      Kevin

      • Mike Sivier January 13, 2017 at 2:30 am - Reply

        January 21, I thought.

  2. David Woods January 7, 2017 at 9:48 am - Reply

    Well at least they didn’t insist on the Red Crescent in case some patients may have been offended being treated by the Red Cross!
    And the government can no longer deny our fall from being a 1st world power under their tutorlidge!
    And No this isn’t down to the bloody BREXIT vote as some will soon no doubt claim!

  3. Fibro confused January 7, 2017 at 10:43 am - Reply

    Finally the BBC has had to take notice I and I’m sure many other emailed and posted on their twitter feeds with this last night, according to the online news site it was just after 9.30am they caved in and started reporting on this, I didn’t think I could hate & despise the Tories much more but…………..words fail me

  4. nivekd January 7, 2017 at 11:08 am - Reply

    Spot on as ever. Money required = their cuts (‘savings’). All dwarfed by the BILLIONS and billions wasted on PFI, the ‘market’, phoney ‘quality’ systems etc etc. (And of course the gifts to accountancy sharks to devise ever more ways to ‘rationalise’. #stopSTPs #DefendOurNHS

  5. NMac January 8, 2017 at 11:20 am - Reply

    Unless I am missing something the Tories don’t even bother to seriously defend themselves against allegations that they are deliberately wrecking the NHS. I presume they are relying on general apathy to get away with it.

  6. philipburdekin January 14, 2017 at 7:33 pm - Reply

    The Tories should Be gone before out NHS die.

  7. philipburdekin January 14, 2017 at 7:40 pm - Reply

    tories should feel shame for what they have done, to our country and the BRITISH people and especially our NHS.

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