Jenny Sutton for Tottenham next May -questions answered - NHS

I have received hundreds of emails asking for my position on many varied subjects. I have tried to answer them all. I am posting a selection. xJenny

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Dear Jenny

Last week, the head of the British Medical Association warned that after the election patients could be charged for basic NHS services. 

Will you commit to keeping the NHS free at the point of use?

Yours sincerely,

Xxxx xxxxxxx

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Dear Xxx,
Thank you for your email. I am committed not only to keeping the NHS free at the point of use, but to working with NHS unions and community campaigns to achieve fully integrated and universally provided physical, mental, social, dental, preventative health and social care – in an NHS that is publicly provided, publicly owned, publicly funded and publicly accountable.

Historically the NHS has been one of the most important gains made by working class people in Britain. We need a massive campaign to stop it being destroyed. Since the last Labour government opened the door to private providers, vast profits are being made out of healthcare. In 2013-14, £6.55 billion of public money went to private healthcare providers!

While private investors are making big profits, we face a crisis with 7000 fewer NHS medical staff than in 2010, and the lowest doctor to population ratio in the EU. Waiting lists are at their highest level for 6 years, half our 600 ambulance stations are earmarked for closure, one third of walk-in centres and 10% A&E units have been shut since 2010.
In the last 5 years, 1 million people have had to sell their homes to pay for elderly care. Mental health patients are being held in police cells because beds have been cut. In Tottenham it is becoming harder and harder to get a GP appointment, especially for those who don’t have access to IT or who have basic language and literacy skills.

Haringey needs St Ann’s Hospital
Shamefully, last month Haringey Council’s planning sub committee voted in favour of selling off two thirds of St Ann’s hospital site to private housing developers, who will make a fortune building houses local people can’t afford. Their argument was that they need the money pay for better mental health services – but this is our NHS land they are selling, and we need the land for improved local healthcare services!

If I hadn’t been in bed with a nasty flu, I would have been at the HaNSAH (Haringey Needs St Ann’s Hospital) lobby of the council – but I will continue to be part of the campaign against the sell-off of NHS land, and for it to be used instead for a hospital at St Ann’s with an A&E and walk-in centre. I was on the picket line at St Ann’s supporting health workers in their recent strike actions, and will be there in support when they take such action again.

No to TTIP
TUSC is completely opposed to the Transatlantic and Trade Investment Partnership, TTIP, which aims to further open up our public services (particularly the NHS) to be privatised and run in the interests of profit. One clause, the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS), allows companies to sue governments for “interfering” with their profits: in the UK TTIP could be used to scare future governments off “reverse privatisation” of NHS services with the prospect of multi-billion pound lawsuits.
TUSC opposes all privatisation of public services. We resolutely oppose TTIP now, and would continue to do so if elected. TUSC MPs would help mobilise opposition to TTIP, both through raising awareness but also supporting protests, demonstrations and strikes which can force positive change. We believe TTIP is yet another example of how we need to change the type of society we live in – which is run in the interests of the 1% not the 99%. 

There is an alternative
If the Tories win the election they will accelerate the destruction of the NHS. Labour has said it will repeal the Tories Health and Social Care Act, but it has not pledged to reverse privatisation. TUSC campaigns for all the profiteers to be kicked out of the NHS. We demand an end to Profit From Illness (PFI) and for the massive debts it has created to be written off. We oppose all cuts, closures and job losses in the NHS.

We also go further, calling for the expansion of the NHS with free and accessible dental care for all and the abolition of the prescription charges. We call for nationalisation of the pharmaceutical industry, the pharmacy chains and medical supply industry and integrate them into a democratically controlled NHS.
We demand a minimum of at least £10 per hour and a 35-hour week for all health workers, 20% of whom are so low-paid that they have to have a second job to make ends meet! We also campaign for a democratic socialist society where poverty – the biggest killer and the greatest cause of ill-health – could become a problem of the past.

For this to happen, it is not enough just to wish it, or have nice sounding policies. We can only take on big business interests with a dramatic shift in the balance of power between the haves and the have-nots. For this we need strong unions and a strong left. To give confidence to the movement from below, we need left-wing MPs who are not career politicians, but can raise the concerns of ordinary people.

I’ve lived and worked in Tottenham for over 25 years. My children went to Tottenham schools.  This is my community and I’m here to stay. I am the chair of the UCU teachers’ union at CONEL College where I’ve been teaching for 22 years. I’ve fought against cuts and redundancies, for workers’ rights and for a living wage for the cleaners. I’ve organised against local cuts and to help save St Ann’s Hospital. I’ve campaigned against police racism and marched with the families of Cynthia Jarrett, Joy Gardner, Roger Sylvester and Mark Duggan. I’ve campaigned against illegal wars and for the rights of the Palestinian and Kurdish peoples. I’ve challenged deportations and defended the rights of refugees and migrants.
I am standing in this election to show that we don’t have to accept the inevitably of cuts, and that our side can organise to win. 

Regards,
Jenny