NHS - Politicians trying to micro-manage the NHS is a prescription for disaster.

A treasured institution by all Political Parties, the NHS is nevertheless like a hungry animal with an insatiable appetite. We are living longer and needing more health care. Drugs, treatments and equipment are ever improving and becoming ever more costly.

It is without doubt that concerns arising over the NHS are those which most concern the public. It has been found that 91% support the publicly funded NHS and only 9% would opt for a privately run service. Although, The NHS is presently PREDOMINATELY privately run already. It was set up like this by Labour after WW2. The GPs, gatekeepers to all NHS services (except A+E) are all private practising individuals or partnerships; just like all high street solicitors. There is nothing wrong with this aspect of ‘privatisation’, it seems to work quite well and is popular with the public.

However, there has been creeping ‘privatisation in other ways under both Parties recently; under Labour 5.9% and under the Coalition a further 1.4%. I make no commenting about this, IT IS SIMPLY THE FACTS.

Let us not forget, and never let Labour forget that it was New Labour who introduced the most privatisation in a generation into the NHS. I mean their financially disastrous double-deal known as PFI, Private Finance Initiative. No wonder Labour always use the abbreviation rather than the words in full; they don’t want to be reminded that this Privatisation scheme was the Labour Party bringing Privatisation on a massive scale into our NHS! The annual costs of paying back interest charges in Calderdale are more than the costs of running A+E in Halifax. The total debts racked up by PFI cost the NHS £300 billion This is totally unjust and is simply wrong. MPs are elected to make new laws which are fair and to re-visit laws which are unfair. If elected I would certainly seek to do just that!

UKIP policy nationally, despite what Labour is continually saying, is that our NHS is and will remain funded through general taxation and be free at the point of delivery or use.

Of course NHS resources are depleted. It is not just called upon to treat our own UK citizens and taxpayers; it is also called upon to treat the entire world. It has become an International Health Service and this, in my view is wrong. Difficult choices will have to be made but, why not let’s start by making some easy ones?

·        No treatment for non Brits without health insurance or payment from their own countries health insurances or systems. Just the same as we must do when we require medical care in Germany, France or elsewhere in the world.

·        Accident & Emergency care is essential for all, but this should exclude people just turning up at an A+E with a tummy upset or with a chronic illness that they have brought with them into UK simply to access ‘free’ treatment.

·        UKIP has promised an extra £3 billion for the NHS, which is more than Labour has promised. This would not be financed by more borrowing or extra taxes, simply by re-channelling our EU daily membership fee to our NHS instead of paying it to Brussels. This money would NOT be used to undo the Tory reorganisation. We have pledged it to increase spending on frontline clinical work for patient care.

Drop in Health Centres, ‘Triages Units’ or ‘Drunk Tanks’ are perhaps a means of reducing some of the burdens on A+Es, but I would leave specific recommendations and plans with health professionals and managers; it is their jobs to evaluate ideas and make proposals. Such matters are not for politicians to think they know better than our Health Professionals do. Politicians trying to micro-manage the NHS is a prescription for disaster. Government must receive recommendations from managers employed in the Health Service, prioritise them and find the necessary funding for them. I can imagine nothing worse than going to my local GP to receive a treatment proposal put together by Craig Whittaker or for that matter, any other of this May’s local PPCs.

‘Weaponising’ the NHS issue is not a plan which will bring any much needed assistance to our Health Service and is, in my view a most irresponsible action. One which demonstrates how totally unfit the present Labour leader is to be the next Prime Minister. The battle which Labour has now engaged with the Tories is not a Gladiatorial contest where one fighter, clad in armour with a sword and wearing a ‘Blue’ T-shirt is locked in a life & death struggle with another holding a trident and net clad in ‘Red’. This will be more like a bull fight. One of the matadors, either the red one or the blue one will win because the bull, however strong always loses. The loser will be our NHS.

A great deal is presently in the local press and in the public mind about the future of Halifax A+E. From my own personal experience, I attended there some years ago with my son Toby who had a serious cut to this face. After a considerable wait, whilst injured drunks and people in police custody were being seen, they refused to treat him because he was a child and sent me to Bradford because “that’s where children are treated for accidents”. I was not given a map or any directions how to get there. I do not make this point as a criticism, but it evidence that Halifax’s A+E has not been an A+E for everything for quite a long time.

It is fair to say that the public will find it very difficult to understand why a population centre like Calderdale is not capable of sustaining an A+E unit of some sort, especially when the usage numbers are slightly greater than at Huddersfield. The public would also like to have some proper clarity about which hospitals are, or will be geared up to provide one service or another. It is hard to understand how the Head of the NHS in England can propose support for ‘local’ hospitals against a background of proposals to close A+Es and consolidate hospital services in Halifax and Huddersfield.

Information, information, information.

Information costs very little and brings great benefits.

Locally UKIP members are sick and tired of hearing the other Parties continually name calling and arguing back and forth about the NHS. Continually spouting well rehearsed Party war chants when asked about the NHS is childish. They think the NHS should be non-political; there are too many instances where changes have been made after a change of government and these changes have been detrimental to the service;-it is too important a matter to kick around like a football. Our members prefer instead of bickering to offer practical support to the Health Service like giving blood or volunteering.

This is the second (2^nd) ‘On the stump’ Political speech to be delivered by UKIP’s Calder Valley PPC, Paul Rogan from Thursday 5^th Feb.2015.

Pictured outside A+E in Halifax are PPC Paul Rogan and Nick Yates, UKIP candidate for Brighouse ward, may 2015.

Promoted, published & printed by Paul Rogan on behalf of himself & Calderdale Branch UKIP, both at 363 Stainland Rd, Stainland, HX4 9HF.