I have worked tirelessly to protect the NHS in Solihull. Since I have started campaigning free parking time at the hospital has doubled, the hospital is investigating the possibility of a shuttle bus between it and Heartlands for vulnerable patients, and I have helped campaign to save dementia care services and walk in services. I have done all of this with the help and support of my wife, a former nurse.
I am tired of misinformation about the Conservatives and the NHS. For all those who have heard scaremongering or outright inaccuracies, let's set the record straight below:
- No one is privatising the NHS and any suggestion that it is being privatised is scaremongering. The NHS is something to be valued, protected and improved.
- We can only have a strong NHS with a strong economy. That’s how the NHS budget has increased by £12.7 billion over this Parliament and how we will continue to make increases if elected in 2015. The Chancellor has announced an extra £2 billion funding every year for frontline NHS services.
- Our long-term economic plan is securing a strong future for the NHS. Because our economy is growing people can have peace of mind that they and their families are guaranteed world-class healthcare, free at the point of use, whenever they need it.
·- We are committed to an NHS that is free at the point of use. Because we have taken difficult decision in other areas of public spending, we have been able to protect spending on the NHS and increase it by more than £12 billion over this Parliament.
- Charities, social enterprises and other providers of healthcare – like Macmillan Nurses – continue to play an important role in the NHS. The use of private providers in the NHS represents only six per cent of its total budget – an increase of just one per cent since 2010. And we have put local doctors and nurses in charge of deciding who can provide the best care for their patients.
· Independent experts dismiss Labour’s claims completely as electioneering. Scaremongering about privatisation has been discredited by just about every independent expert, including by the King’s Fund who say it is a ‘myth’
· Our long-term economic plan means we have been able to increase the NHS budget by £12.7 billion this Parliament. This helps pay for thousands more doctors, nurses, GPs and midwives who are treating patients in cleaner, safer hospitals – with the dignity they deserve. We are able to increase the NHS budget in the next Parliament to help fund Simon Stevens’ Five Year Forward View. This plan will help meet growing demand, give the public better access to GPs and it is widely supported in the NHS. This will help secure a better future for Britain – one where people can be confident that their NHS will be there for them – but you can only have a properly-funded NHS if you have a strong economy.
· Hiring thousands more doctors, nurses and midwives to treat patients. There are now more than 9,000 more doctors in the NHS, more than 7,000 more nurses and 2,000 more midwives looking after patients.
· Reducing unnecessary management. There are now 6,000 fewer managers in the NHS than under Labour.
· Improving GP access so everyone will be able to see a GP seven days a week by 2020. We are already helping more than 1,000 GP practices see patients at a time convenient to them and the next Conservative government will ensure that everyone will have access to a GP seven days a week by 2020.
· Public dissatisfaction with the NHS has reached an all-time low. According to the Kings Fund only 15 per cent of respondents reported being dissatisfied with the NHS against 65 per cent who were satisfied.
Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the NHS
TTIP does not require us, the USA or any other country to open up their national health systems to private providers. These accusations of privatisation are unfounded scaremongering.
Instead, this free trade deal will lower trade barriers, boosting growth and creating more jobs, as well as lowering prices. It will help provide much-needed security for hardworking taxpayers.
Making sure Britain continues to be an open, trading economy is part of our plan to build a healthier, more balanced economy, so we can secure a better future for Britain. This is especially important when the warning lights are flashing over the global economy with weak growth in Europe and a slowdown across Asia.
· TTIP does not require countries to open up their national health systems to private providers. Accusations that it will cause privatisation of NHS services are unfounded scaremongering. As the EU, negotiators on both sides, and the government have made clear, TTIP will not affect how public services are paid for.
· Decisions about NHS care will remain in the hands of local doctors, who will continue to act in the best interests of patients. The NHS is something to be valued and protected – and decisions about the commissioning of NHS care will not be affected.
· The agreement will help patients get the most effective new treatments. We want patients to be able to benefit from the very latest diagnostic devices and drugs. The US is a world leader in medical technologies and this agreement will help patients get access to those treatments on the NHS faster.
· This agreement is not new and the UK has over 90 similar agreements in place. The rules on investment protection and Investor State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) will preserve the right of the government to regulate in the public interest.
Let's set the record straight.