Dear James Sunderland,
I am writing in regard to the governments Health & Social Care bill and in particular some key concerns that have been raised:
1) Removal of statutory duty to arrange provision of secondary (e.g. hospital) medical services.
The only possible reason to want to remove a duty to arrange provision is because you don’t want to arrange provision, i.e. you want to reduce the provision of free healthcare and allow private medical companies & private insurance companies to grow. The Conservative government want to turn people being sick into a profit centre for their mates in private medical. How do we know this?
2) Removal of the obligation for public tendering for NHS services allowing ministers to circumvent normal procurement rules.
So, the VIP lane writ into law. Mates of the Health Secretary, or the Cabinet Secretary, or the Home Secretary or heaven only knows maybe your mates will be able to lobby that they should get a contract. We’ve seen with the PPE scandal how that works out. Billions of tax payer money “spaffed up the wall” by friends of the party regardless of whether they provide a service or whether it’s a shoddy service that they provide.
3) Provision to enable private companies to sit on ICS boards with no maximum representation while local authorities representation is strictly limited. So local people have no voice in how local services are run while the people profiting from them get unlimited say. Great to ensure there are no dissenting voices getting in the way of making a buck.
I could go on.
This bill ends the NHS in all but name & clap. It ushers in US style private health care and bungs to mates of the party.
You said you were happy with your stance on Owen Patterson and letting Tory MP’s police their own standards. Is this okay with you too?
Would you be happy explaining to your constituents your support for ending the NHS.
If not, what will you do? What will you do to safeguard the NHS for your constituents in Bracknell?
Yours sincerely,
Matthew Mower