- Conference
- 2015 Health Care Service Group Conference
- Date
- 5 December 2014
- Decision
- Carried as Amended
UNISON members note in October the words of Andy Burnham “People before profits… no one gave the prime minister permission to put the NHS up for sale”. Conference welcomes his comments and those later in November that he wishes to return to an integrated health service which includes social care as part of the NHS.
If anyone doubts the influence of our union, and sister unions, listen to the change in language from the Health Secretary.
The Con-Dem Secretary of State, Jeremy Hunt, was quoted in December as saying he does not believe “the market will ever be able to deliver in the top priority area of integrated (care) out of hospital”. He went on; “… choice was not the main driver of performance improvement, contrary to the emphasis placed on it by various governments and senior NHS leaders since the early 2000s… there are natural monopolies in healthcare, where patient choice is never going to drive change”.
He agreed with views heard in this conference previously that “…choice was particularly irrelevant in emergency care and that market forces would not create good integrated community care – one of the service’s main priorities.”
In an era where 70% of health contracts go to private contractors, conference notes the disparity between the rhetoric and the reality.
Conference calls on the Health Service Group Executive to organise a publicity and health campaign to inform our members and the general public of the government’s privatisation policy. Further to campaign against any further privatisation in the health/social care sector.
Conference also note the return of services to the NHS which have been previously privatised. When services are returned to NHS control our members and the users of the services reap the benefits.