Privatisation by stealth is eroding our NHS services

The costs to service employees, hundreds of vulnerable patients and our economy have simply not been taken into account by the council.

This very significant event was barely publicised but at least made it to page 9 of the Argus.

Trade unions, NHS employees, NHS campaigning groups had submitted arguments, lobbied, demonstrated intensively over a period of many months – all to no avail.

People should be shouting from the roof-tops about it and the fact it is the latest in a line of our local NHS services to be bundled out of our NHS and local control to a non-NHS provider. What is happening to these services is the tip of the iceberg of decisions being made behind closed doors in the Royal Sussex Hospital, the council (with responsibility for public health services), the CCG (consortium of local GPs who control commissioning of NHS services) and various NHS trusts.

Other NHS services, for example the Instrument Community Equipment Service, face the same imminent fate.

Many of us will already have experienced the impact of these changes, with waiting lists for hospital A and Es and treatments, mental health services, GP appointments, queues of ambulances outside the hospital, letters re NHS waiting lists suggesting going privately etc.

There are all indications of the privatisation by stealth which is eroding more and more of our NHS services.

Why has this happened? Because with a few honourable exceptions our local politicians have so far been unwilling to stand up for our NHS and for retaining high quality, freely available healthcare in the NHS and in our city.

To paraphrase a famous quote – All that is necessary for ill-doing to triumph is that good people do nothing.

Please find out how you can support your local NHS services and take action now before our beloved NHS ceases to exist.

Madeleine Dickens

Compton Road

Brighton