Thank you
We have now submitted this letter along with signatures to the press – an article on the letter was published in the Journal on 9th March to coincide with the Liberal Democrat Spring Conference being held at the Sage, Gateshead.
Thank you to everyone that signed the letter – we had over 300 responses in such a short time scale. A whole range of health professionals, patient group leaders and concerned members of the public signed. We are also grateful to the volunteers that circulated the letter to delegates attending the Liberal Democrat conference.
We are no longer actively seeking signatures. Instead we would urge you to individually write to your local MPs and political party representatives (particularly Liberal Democrats and Conservatives) to make your concerns known. The Government is hoping to have the Bill complete passage through both houses by the 20th March. Websites such as www.writetothem.com and www.38degrees.org.uk/pages/save_our_nhs_action_centre have tools to help you write to your local representatives.
Why a letter?
We are a group of concerned health professionals, patients and members of the public in the North East who believe the Health and Social Care Bill must be dropped.
The Liberal Democrats are holding their annual spring conference at the Sage in Gateshead from Friday 9th – Sunday 11th March 2012. We would like to show delegates the strength of feeling against the Bill and therefore urge you to sign this letter which will be presented to delegates at their conference:
Open letter to Liberal Democrat conference delegates
Dear Liberal Democrat,
We would like to welcome you to the Northeast, an area recognised as having some of the best NHS healthcare in the UK. We would like to maintain our excellent reputation for caring well for patients and continue to improve.
However, our ability to do this is under severe threat from the Health and Social Care Bill; not only is this not needed to improve the NHS, in fact it will have a detrimental effect. This is the greatest threat to the future of high quality, cost-effective, accessible health care and to the health of our population since the NHS began. This is a view shared widely – doctors, nurses, midwives, physiotherapists, occupational therapists, health visitors, health service managers, health policy experts and many others who understand health care are opposed to these changes. Royal Colleges, including those of GPs, Paediatricians, Nurses, Radiologists and the Faculty of Public Health, as a well as the BMA, Unison and other national bodies, have called for the Bill to be dropped. Most importantly patients and the public, your voters, are increasingly concerned too.
We need you to stand up for all current and future patients. We need you to voice your concerns too. Please talk with your colleagues, your parliamentary representatives, your Lords and your party leaders to make sure they understand the strength of concern amongst the public.
Whilst the amendments supported by the Lib Dems, including the latest by Nick Clegg and Shirley Williams, have been proposed and agreed with the best of intentions, this is still a bad and unnecessary bill and is already providing a huge distraction from the issues that really matter.
The Bill will lead to a fragmented system. What we really need is better integration to help those with long-term conditions navigate a complex system of specialists and services at a time when they are most vulnerable.
The Bill will increase competition. Our public health experts have shown with compelling evidence that whilst competition can work in limited situations, in health care it is often money wasting and detrimental to health.
The Bill will lead to ever more privatisation. We only need look at the USA for an extreme example of how those with the most need are often left behind by profit motives and cherry picking. Patients want their doctor to be focused entirely on what’s best for them, and not to have to be second-guessing if their GP is really thinking about profits and commercial pressures.
As a consequence, the Bill will lead to further widening of socio-economic inequalities in health. The gap in health outcomes between rich and poor is widest when comparing regions such as the North East with the rest of England. Such gross inequality is unacceptable and the competitive mechanisms and increased privatisation go against the founding principles of the NHS.
Independent evidence shows that the NHS at present is amongst the most cost-effective and most accessible health care systems in the world and satisfaction ratings are at the highest ever. However, the NHS is not perfect. There are real problems which need to be addressed, in particular the ageing population, quality of care and inequality of outcomes. Significant cost savings are required in the NHS. These problems need to be addressed urgently but solutions must be underpinned by the fundamental principles of the NHS-safety, effectiveness, fairness and equity of access.
The Bill does not identify any workable solutions to the real problems. The system it proposes will cost more and deliver less. In particular it will deliver less to those most in need: the old, those with chronic illness or disability and those who are poor and marginalised.
The Health and Social Care Bill must be dropped. Then meaningful discussions with the healthcare professions should take place to ensure we work together to improve the nation’s health and healthcare.
Please join the great majority of the public and health professionals in calling for the Bill to be dropped.
Yours,
Sign the letter
We encourage all concerned individuals in the North East to sign this letter. Complete the form below or send an email to dropthebillne@gmail.com.
We will publish your name with the letter therefore please include your name as you would like to see it printed. We will use your email address only to update you with progress on the letter.
Drop the Bill - North East 