Monday, 27 January 2014

Rufus Hound to stand for the National Health Action Party as an MEP

This is an interesting development that should bolster awareness of the National Health Action Party. The party was set up by doctors to challenge the privatisation of the NHS; a process started by the last Labour government but grossly accelerated by the Coalition’s Health and Social Care Act and additional regulations passed last year - which I wrote about at length.

Behind NHS logos, nearly all NHS services must now be put out to tender so that private companies can compete to run them. The NHA Party believes that this marketisation will lead to a focus on profits not patients, and endanger the principles of the National Health Service. Furthermore they are drawing attention to the fact that the NHS ought to be exempted from the coming EU-US trade deal which further risks England’s ability to determine the future of the NHS. Wales and Scotland have made different decisions which have kept the market out.