Dr Peter Wimpenny on the threat of privatisation and what Nye Bevan would make of those who seek the destruction of the health service. Plus, Prof Alan Walker on why it should focus on prevention
Polly Toynbee illuminates so well how the Tories and the rightwing press seek to undermine the National Health Service (The NHS wreckers cannot accept that the British public still back it, 27 June). We have seen it happen to all our other public services where funding is reduced below the level required and privatisation is then seen as a saviour, with investment and the sort of business management that is focused on reducing wages and increasing profits. This approach started with the adoption of the Griffiths report in the 1980s and a reduction in clinical leadership.
The profits of such privatisation will then be sucked out of the service and go towards inflating bonuses for those at the top and paying dividends to shareholders. A further outcome is that those who work in the service are often seen as goods and chattels, to be sold to the highest bidder, and the grounded public service ethos is diminished.
