NHS Zombie Flashmob!

On the 30th November students from across the country took part in zombie flashmob's in order to wake people up to the devastating affect of the changes ongoing within our NHS.

This video is a highlight reel of some of the best bits.

Cops off Campus - Message of Support

Students for the NHS sends their support and solidarity to all students taking part in the Cops off Campus National Day of Action on the 11th December 2013.

Free Trade deal will bind NHS to private providers for good.

Picture: FT

There are ongoing talks between the United States and the European Union to open the trade borders across the Atlantic.

This means that US businesses will have equal rights to sell goods and services within the UK as UK businesses. They will also have equal rights to bid for contracts put out to tender.

In healthcare this will mean that US private healthcare companies will have the same rights to bid for, and run healthcare services as local NHS providers.

What's happening to the NHS?! - An introduction

The NHS is a huge organisation, with many complex issues that are certainly not new. We have always loved to talk about the NHS in the media, it is a staple part of British life, and praising and at the same time complaining about it is commonplace in all parts of society. Going forward it is important to remember that whilst the NHS has certainly not been perfect, for the last 65 years Britain has had of the most equal and efficient healthcare systems in the Western world.

Pritchard C, Wallace MS. Comparing the USA, UK and 17 western countries' efficiency and effectiveness in reducing mortality. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine Short Reports. 2011;2(60).

So what makes the changes happening now so important?

Government attempts to change law in bid to downgrade successful hospitals.

This government has a problem. The Health and Social Care Act removed the Health Secretary from direct control of the NHS. This means that decisions about provision of services now rests with NHS England and Clinical Commissioning Groups.

However, the government has an ideological mission to shrink the state. It calls this project austerity. In removing the Secretary of State’s duty to provide a comprehensive health service they have created the legal framework for greater austerity within the NHS, and the end of universal healthcare provision. But at the same time have diminished their power to implement this austerity drive.

This is why the Lewisham Hospital case was so important. The government tried to use legislation around failing hospitals to reconfigure other local services. Lewisham was just the unfortunate recipient of this dangerous medicine.

25,000 people march to save Lewisham Hospital

The government lost in the High Court because what they were trying to do is illegal. They had no power and no rationale for closing a well performing NHS Trust Hospital in favour of a failing  PFI ridden Foundation Trust. They were trying to gerrymander the new healthcare market they have created within the NHS.