THE NHS is the greatest of the gains that the working class made in the period immediately after the Second World War.
It was brought in by Labour and its Health Minister Aneurin Bevan on July 5 1948 to provide free health care at the point of need for everybody – in the teeth of massive Tory opposition. Its introduction was assisted by ruling class fears that the millions of returned soldiers would not tolerate it being rejected and would respond with a revolution. It has since saved millions of lives but has been constantly under fire.
In fact, Bevan resigned as Minister for Labour on 23 April 1951 when Labour Chancellor Hugh Gaitskell brought in prescription charges in order to increase British military expenditure as part of the UK’s anti-Russian war plans.
Bevan had no illusions about the ruling class’s hatred for the NHS and stated publicly that, ‘The NHS will last as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it.’ That time has arrived. The Tories are getting ready to privatise the NHS and destroy it, and to transfer the NHS budget to the military, as part of their modern war drive.
The Tories are taking advantage of, and following on from, the way that the Blair-Brown Labour governments weakened the NHS with their PFI policy, their plans for a health market, and their drive for Foundation Trust hospitals, a drive that cost a lot of people their lives.
Yesterday, Jonathan Ashworth, Labour Shadow Health Secretary, declared to the Unison conference, ‘This is a Tory NHS crisis and that’s why the future of the NHS is at stake in this general election.
‘Labour will defend the National Health Service and axe that Health and Social Care legislation that allows the NHS to be fragmented and sold off.’ He announced, ‘Privatisation of the NHS will come to an end … So I can announce we will also put healthcare professionals, staff and patients on the Board of any organisation providing NHS care.
‘And yes, this will apply to all private companies currently providing services or we will insist they hand back their contracts.’ It turns out that Labour is not proposing to drive private companies out of the NHS; it is proposing to put workers on their boards!
He added: ‘A pay freeze has seen NHS wages fall 14% below inflation … So I can confirm today that a Labour government will scrap the pay cap, put pay decisions back into the hands of the independent pay review body and give our NHS workers the pay they deserve …’
He added: ‘So let me commit here today that we will re-introduce bursaries … for student nurses and midwives.’ He continued: ‘We are thousands short on the numbers of nurses, midwives, and paramedics that we need … So the next Labour government will legislate to ensure safe staffing levels in England’s NHS.’
He assured: ‘So conference, with a Labour government there will be a new law to guarantee safe staffing, so that finances never again take precedence over patient safety. And, unlike the current Secretary of State, I don’t make promises on behalf of the NHS while refusing to give the NHS the resources and tools to deliver those promises. The NHS under the Tories is being pushed back to the bad old days and it will fall to Labour to save the NHS like we have done throughout our history.’
Ashworth continued: ‘So we confirm our commitment to hitting the targets for A&E … Because those who have given so much all their life deserve security and dignity in retirement, we’ll integrate health and social care.’
This is however the policy of the current Tory government. They are closing A&Es, and integrating health and social care by shutting down social care and creating a situation where the elderly are either forgotten or are being denounced for being bed-blockers.
The fact is that the only way that the NHS can be maintained and financed is through carrying out socialist policies. This requires, to start with, the nationalisation of the drugs industry and the disarming of British imperialism, so that the hundreds of billions being spent on Trident, aircraft carriers and the Bahrain naval base are confiscated for the use of the NHS! There is no other way!