Act Now: Health and Social Care

The National Health Service (NHS) is the clearest example of how social solidarity and risk pooling mitigate against the risk of illness and financial ruin due to health care bills. However, more than three decades of policies have undermined the founders’ vision, contributing to the progressive dismantling of the system. As with education, we need to return funding to pre-austerity measures in real terms; enact legislation to end private provision and contracting within the NHS in ways that build community wealth; create a National Pharmaceutical Service to remove the exploitation of the NHS by predatory pharmaceutical bodies; nationalise GP practices into Primary Care Networks; and integrate social care into the NHS via Integrated Care Boards. This plan is fundamental to ensuring that our society is secured against avoidable illness and resilient against the threat of further emergencies.

The measures we need are common sense. Privatisation has failed and we need to take control. As the pandemic demonstrated, our health and social care is at the heart of our society. We cannot afford to wait for another national emergency to build national resilience.