A year ago I wrote this piece in response to the outcome of the General
Election, whereby it was announced that the Conservatives had been elected to
govern Britain for the next 5 years.
A year on, and I dare say that things appear much worse than
I (and, undoubtedly, countless others) could have expected. But what more
could we expect when we're being governed by a capitalist,
corporatist, anti-equality, pro-austerity, privatisation bourgeoisie
machine.
The Privatisation of the NHS
At present, the NHS is the primary provider of healthcare,
and for the most part, its services are free at point-of-contact. But the
private sector has slowly been sinking its claws into the foundations of the
NHS, seeking privatisation, increased managerialism, and the reduction of the
NHS budget. Health care has now found itself in a new market-focused
industry, concerned less with treating patients than with achieving targets set
by the government.
Britain spends less on health-care than the EU average, yet
we're so frequently told that our NHS offers some of the best health services
globally. But with the number of specialist centres losing funding and
having to reduce their operability, the number of patients in hospitals without
access to beds, and X, is it any wonder that tax payers are dissatisfied that
their money isn't funding the services we all rely upon? Is it any
surprise that services are dwindling and the care the public receives is far
less than it used to be?
General practice has seen some drastic changes – 656
surgeries have been merged, taken over or closed completely since 2010 largely
due to chronic under-funding and under-investment. Smaller
GP practices will close or be forced to merge into federated
organisations, feeding the corporate model the government is so insistent upon
introducing. This is arguably the precursor to privatisation of general
practice overall, with buy-outs and take-overs of these federated organisations.
Masses of out-of-hours care have already been outsourced and GP surgeries are
being run by private companies. The system is under great strain, due to
lack of funding in the face of increased workloads associated with an ageing
population, and the shift of care from hospital to community levels, resulting
in a general practice crisis.
Junior Doctors' Strikes
Related to the privatisation of the NHS is Jeremy Hunt's
decision to implement a new contract on Junior Doctors. For those
unaware, a Junior Doctor is any medical professional below the level of
Consultant (this means that around 90% of medical staff are considered a Junior
Doctor). Strikes have been threatened and have happened due to their
dissatisfaction with the contract proposals, and the distant attitude of Hunt.
Currently, Junior Doctors are contracted to work 40 hours a
week during standard working hours of 7am to 7pm (with hours outside, as well
as the weekend, considered "unsociable" hours). Pay increases
when doctors work outside of these hours, although the amount is variable,
depending on the banding system.
Under Hunt's contract, sociable hours would change from 7am
to 7pm, to 7am to 10pm. Doctors would receive an extra 50% for night
shifts (from 10pm to 7am) on any day of the week. And they would get an
extra 33% for daytime hours on a Sunday or between 7pm and 10pm on a Saturday.
Some of those JD's who currently work many weekday shifts at 8pm, or
Saturday shifts at any time of the day, would
see their income fall under this system. The rise in base pay could,
for some, not be enough to offset the lost income from these hours being
categorised as being part of plain time.
Moreover, Hunt has suggested that the NHS become a 7-day
organisation. Currently, which Hunt seems to have failed to acknowledge, in
acute specialities, seven-day ward rounds by consultants already exist.
Emergency treatment at the weekends also exists. In principle,
doctors and the BMA do support more seven-day hospital services where they are
essential and where patient care and safety can be improved. However, a
7-day NHS would require other services being available in order that clinicians
are able to make diagnoses, whilst still providing high quality care.
This includes diagnostic and clinical support, social care (on-site and
within the local community), transfer services, and administrative supports.
Yet Hunt has failed to actually expand on his wishes for a 7-day NHS,
which has led to the development of the hashtag #ShowUsThe7DayPlan.
Frankly, Hunt's proposals are quite obscure considering his
lack of explanation, the current state of the NHS foundations due to
privatisation and funding cuts, and his non-comments on the growing demand for
NHS services. Health services are already on their knees, crippled by the
drive for cost-efficiency and the squeezing of services at all edges.
Hunt takes no account of the fact that demands on the health service are
growing year on year; general practice is already in crisis, and if we continue
moving at these speeds, the whole of the NHS will be on special measures
because of a misplaced ideology that public services are over-funded,
inefficient, and alternative care is the way forward. It takes little to
realise that the government can hardly afford its current model, let alone
generate a different emergency system and reduce the NHS budget by £30bn by the
end of the next parliament.
Food Banks
Spiralling levels of poverty, loss of income for a variety of reasons, and increased prices has led to a cultural dependency on food banks in this country. The Trussell Trust is reporting that food bank usage is still at an all-time record high, with usage having risen 19% in the last year. The number of food banks in the country has risen from 56 in 2010 to 424 in 2015/16 (and these are just those provided by The Trussell Trust: the total number of organisations providing emergency food supplies is estimated to be over 1500).
These figures expose a double-edged Conservative lie related to their benefits and back-to-work policies. On the one hand, this represents the supposed
record numbers back in employment. But on the other, the second largest cause
of food bank referrals (22%) is from people on low income, shows this
employment "miracle" is due, at least in part, to driving people
into underpaid and insecure (read: zero-hours contracts) jobs. Moreover, the ruthless and inhumane cutting of the benefits system demonises the poorest in society, and is denying them the money necessary to afford food, to the extent that many go hungry.
In a survey, it was found that 46% of those who use food banks do so due to benefit sanctions.
If hunger and reliance on food banks is to be tackled effectively, the government urgently needs to address its changes in benefits and welfare programmes. As Kerry McCarthy, shadow secretary for environment, food, and rural affairs noted, “Food banks have become a truly shameful symbol of a Tory
government that is failing to stand up for ordinary people. While those at the
top are given tax breaks, others are struggling to get by. Emergency food aid should remain just that. Food banks can
never be allowed to become a permanent feature of British society”.
Education Reforms
In November (the 6th, to be precise) the government released
its Green Paper plans for the future of Higher Education, described as the most
disruptive changes to Higher Education in 20 years. It was staggering to
see in black and white how willing the Tories are to continue in their attempts
to make Higher Education a commodity that can be bought and sold, treating
students as consumers, and lecturers as nothing more than mere pawns in this
messed up "game". Their agenda to make profit out of education
is now in full-swing. Clearly we're nothing more than an inconvenience to
the politicians who signed off this report. The ‘big’ changes in the
report include:
· Student loans rising with inflation, which means that
all students are likely to pay back their loans when earning under the current
£21,000 boundary
· The decision for increasing fees will be at the whim
of the Secretary of State for Business, rather than being passed through a vote
in Parliament
· Universities will no longer be subject to the Freedom
of Information Act, meaning there is less clarity about what universities are
doing
· The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) will be
linked to graduate earnings, meaning degrees that produce low earning graduates
will be funded less
Consumerism and marketisation of educational institutions
disillusions human connections. Education and employment should
never be about surviving within the constraints of capitalist society as we
know and understand it.
The November 2015 spending review, as announced by George
Osborne, also affected students. The government has frozen the repayment
threshold. The Department for Business and Innovation Skills said that,
"to reduce government debt, the student loan repayment threshold for plan
two (students who took out loans from 2012 onwards) borrowers will be frozen
until April 2021". Previously, the threshold for student loan
repayments was meant to rise with increased earning, starting at £21,000. The
Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) estimates the retrospective freezing of the
threshold at earnings of £21,000 would mean an average graduate would pay back
about £3000 extra. Meanwhile, disadvantaged students who had previously
been eligible for support grants (which, surprise surprise, have been scrapped
under this Tory government) would be even worse off. Moreover, the IFS
noted that those earning close to media incomes for graduates (Around £16,000)
would pay back an extra £6000.
Clearly the government is attacking students
disproportionately, treating us as consumers and education as a commodity which
can be bought and sold. Education should not be treated as an industry
which can be reduced to nothing more than another profit-making business.
Students should not have the concern of leaving Higher Education with a future
defined by masses of debt, which are only set to increase if these proposals
are passed. Students should not be discriminated against because of
their religious or ethnic backgrounds.
And there are at least another dozen issues I could've written and ranted about. Ultimately, we need to talk about systems of oppression and not just
where power is located. We need to unite in our struggle against the
rampage of neoliberal policies. Our government and those involved in
policy-making decisions need to be held responsible and realise their
culpability. Our opposition must be as unflinching as their attacks. Whether we like it or not, we have another 4 years of this Tory government. Together we can make a difference. We can send a message that is strong enough to express our dissatisfaction and disillusionment with what was (by 36% of the public) voted in.
No comments:
Post a Comment