Keep Our NHS Public (KONP) held a spirited lunchtime rally opposite Old Palace Yard, near the Houses of Parliament, on February 26 to campaign against privatisation in the NHS. With the demand, "Keir Starmer: Invest in the NHS, not the private sector!", the rally brought together NHS workers, campaigners and other concerned people.

NHS workers march Colchester, October2024- Photo: Louis Bailey

Counterfire writes: "The rain poured down on the rally, but this did not dampen the mood of rally participants, nor did it stop the public from showing their support with cars honking as they passed on the busy road. The rally's theme was 'Welfare not Warfare', with most speakers referring to Keir Starmer's pledge to increase defence spending to over 2.5% of GDP. Speakers ranged from local trade union reps, Green co-leader and MP Adrian Ramsey, to Labour MPs John McDonnell and Richard Burgon, and independent MP Iqbal Mohamed, among others. There was also a delegation of striking workers from Guy's and St. Thomas' Hospital."

The report continues: "The rally started with remarks from Tom Griffiths of Keep Our NHS Public on the need to rebuild the movement around the NHS. He said that this rally is just the beginning in building an understanding of the clear links between cuts and privatisation and the increase in defence spending. There was considerable anger about Starmer's pledge to increase military spending through cuts to the international aid budget. Tom pointed out: 'if there is money, it should be going into the NHS and not for weapons of mass destruction.'

"Johnbosco Nwogbo from We Own It spoke about the absolute disaster of involving private companies in the NHS. He gave harrowing examples, including about the company, Sciensus, which delivers vital medication to patients who cannot collect it themselves. The company has missed 10,000 deliveries in the course of a year. For example, it failed to send vital injections to a patient called 'Autumn', an eight-year-old girl with Crohn's disease, four times that year. This left her with severe stomach cramps, pain and fatigue, and she was unable to attend school. Nwogbo said that these missed deliveries were down to insufficient staff numbers and training. Nwogbo gave us proof that the profit motive is not able to deliver adequate health care.

"As seen in the strikes in Colchester [1], the outsourcing of workers in the NHS does nothing to benefit either the workers, the service, or health outcomes. All it does is move the responsibility onto unaccountable corporations and siphon money out of our health system. This leads directly to staff redundancies, poorer working conditions, and worse-performing hospitals."

As the Counterfire article concludes: "The increase in defence spending does not benefit any working person in the UK or abroad; it only removes resources from the services we need." The restructuring and privatisation of the health service is leading to deepening of the crisis in the NHS, and, as the KONP rally demonstrated, health workers and all concerned people are stepping up the struggle for a pro-social direction for the NHS, and against the control of the NHS by the health monopolies.

Note
[1] NHS facilities staff at Colchester Hospital went on strike in November 2024 to protest against plans to outsource jobs. The strike action was extended until January 5, 2025. The strike gained a lot of support from the local community, who marched with the strikers to the town centre in October.

(Louis Bailey, Counterfire)

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