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Leamington Letters #112: a short walk for the good of my health

26/4/2016

10 Comments

 
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In many ways, the junior doctors are the miners of today.
 
Like the miners, they are fighting not for more money but against closures, against an ideology which would destroy the very fundamentals of their service and industry, which would, in fact, destroy the industry itself.
 
In the same way as a victory over the miners was a prerequisite for the privatization of our energy, so a victory over the junior doctors is the forerunner of a fundamental change in the provision of our health services. It is the start of a programme which will end in a free market in health, an American style of provision in which the first question a hospital will ask of a sick patient is ‘Are you insured?’.
 
In the US, President Obama has finally got through Congress the beginnings of a federal healthcare programme. Obamacare is not the answer to all the issues, but it’s a start. And the irony of our respective situations is not lost on US citizens: as they make their tentative first steps towards some form of national health service, they look across at us attempting to dismantle the famous original. On a recent trip to Boston, this was what my American friends wanted to discuss. (Well, after the Sox pitching.)
 
Our American friends see and hear senior Tories such as Lord Prior and Stephen Dorrell disparaging the NHS. At a recent ‘private healthcare breakfast’, Dorrell argued that the NHS was not a ‘national religion’ but a ‘service sector’ which had a massive potential for profit. And Jeremy Hunt himself has co-authored a policy pamphlet, entitled Direct Democracy: An Agenda for a New Model Party, which argued that the NHS should be replaced by a privatised insurance market system. Similar arguments are made regularly by more obscure Tory MPs when the visit the States and appear – usually - on Fox News.
 
There is, clearly, an agenda. And, if one looks and listens closely enough, it is not even hidden. Between the lines in the ‘safe-in-our-hands’ election rhetoric is a clearly thought-out strategy to starve the NHS of resources, claim it isn’t working, and dismantle it.
 
The ‘imposition’ of the Junior Doctors’ contract is one, and only one, element in this strategy. But it is the key element. Lose this, and we lose our NHS. Perhaps not in the next couple of years, but soon. It will happen gradually but inexorably: one issue at a time. And then we will wake up to find that our National Health Service is in fact the Etihad Health Service or something similar.
 
That is why I shall be taking a short walk for the good of my health and our health service on Sunday, marching down the Parade in Leamington Spa. I shall be joined by other senior citizens for junior doctors, by doctors and nurses, by councillors and academics, and by grandchildren who were born in the NHS.
 
A quarter of a century ago, the NHS saved my life. Now, I want to save the NHS.

​See you in Top Park at 2pm.

Today from the everysmith vaults: Still Chris Forsyth, a great deal of acoustic blues, and - of course - Bob.
10 Comments
Richard
26/4/2016 10:05:57

Spot on. The longest walk starts with a single step.

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Allan
26/4/2016 10:20:42

Yes! This is vital to the kind of country we are and wish to become. A crucial battle. Good luck with your march.

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Sean
26/4/2016 10:40:22

Saved my life too. It must be fought for tooth and nail.

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Max
26/4/2016 11:25:59

Sean, the Hillsborough verdict flashed across my screen as I was reading your comment. Difficult day for you. We are thinking of you. Xxx

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Sam
26/4/2016 11:20:38

This is about the NHS. The JD issue is merely a symptom of the deeper malaise which you have correctly noted. The US parallels are frightening. Hunt is driven by ideology and profit. Your March and thousands of others throughout the country will help to make the point that this is unacceptable. By supporting the junior doctors we are supporting the NHS.

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Dan
26/4/2016 14:10:28

This the key fight for the future of our country. Who we are, what we are about, how we wish to treat others. You will get a good turnout for your march. Millions share your disgust at what this government is trying to do.

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Ed
26/4/2016 14:41:37

Blogpost dead on. And the comments too. Agree this is crucial.

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Ellie
27/4/2016 09:49:17

So right about the insidious dismantling of the NHS. But, as a first step, how can we wipe that smirk off Hunt's face? It seems to me that the only person who actually wants this strike is Jeremy Hunt!

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Paul
8/5/2016 22:48:20

http://home.deserttrip.com/

Bob in Cali

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Anthea Callen link
2/6/2016 23:23:19

Just seen this Max, a little late; huge success hugely worthwhile. We need to do more, the poison is still spreading...

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    Max Smith

    European writer, radical, restaurateur and Red Sox fan. 70-something husband, father, step-father, grandfather and son. Resident in Warwick, England.

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