Fight to defend the NHS
By a Scottish NHS worker
Scotland’s NHS is in crisis. The recent Audit Scotland report into the NHS exposed a ticking time-bomb caused by massive under funding. The scale of cuts planned by Scotland’s fourteen health boards this year is a staggering half a billion pounds. Almost double that of last year. The cost of drugs paid to the profiteering pharmaceutical companies has rocketed by 10%. The number of patients waiting for appointments has grown to 275,000.
“Unprecedented savings”, i.e. cuts, will be made, says the report. But this will provoke an explosion of anger in communities facing the downgrading of hospital services, a GP crisis and NHS staff who will face the brunt off these cuts.
Despite the claims of the SNP-led Scottish government, investment in the NHS is woefully inadequate.
“Realistic medicine in a time of austerity” is the message from Scotland’s top NHS planners. But for workers it’s pay restraint, record staff turnover and unbearable workloads.
Nothing other than the building a mass campaign involving communities and NHS trade unions can stop the slow strangulation of the NHS in Scotland.
We need an end to politicians who implement cuts. But the SNP and a majority of Labour politicians are failing to offer the fighting defence of the NHS that is needed.
The NHS trade unions must take the lead in a national campaign to demand and end to cuts and a fully funded NHS. An emergency conference of trade unions alongside community campaigns should be organised to draw up a plan of action, including an all Scotland demonstration in defence of the NHS. Our health service is under attack like never before. It’s time to defend it.
Tayside: A case study
NHS Tayside has been set a savings target of £58m for this year alone as part of a £175m package of savings expected in the next 5 years. This after government bailouts for each of the last 4 years in order to meet savings targets. This money requires to be repaid unless the Scottish government write it off, which they have the power to do. Attempts to balance the books have been hampered by the need to use agency staff to cover shortfalls in staff numbers, especially in clinical posts.
NHS Tayside expects to have paid £8m in agency staff for 2016/17. This cost has risen by 39% in one year. Added to this is the £9.3m due to staff who were not paid correctly whilst on annual leave.
NHS Tayside is not unique. If you add debts owed to private companies under PFI, which was used to build 3 mental health hospitals in Tayside, a further £14m per year can be added to the £175m the health board is expected to cut from its budget up to 2021.
A perfect storm is brewing which highlights the disastrous policy of Tory cuts carried out by the SNP. Every health board in Scotland is underfunded but expected to make savings. Already we are seeing community based campaigns sprout up to defend existing services.
The role of NHS trade unions will be key in defending staff from the intensification of workload, let alone other issues of terms and conditions.
