Something to chew on as you watch, listen or read BBC reports on the NHS.

Labour claims about the NHS and what the Tories intend to do with it are even less credible than claims Man Utd will sign Ched Evans.

The BBC  rather disengenuously tells us that

Reports over the weekend suggested that Labour is set to make the health service a key election battleground should come as no surprise – nor should the timing.

In fact, some commentators believe, after the economy, the NHS could be the most important issue in the election campaign.

 

Well far from ‘reports over the weekend’ revealing Labour’s plans to place the NHS at the centre of its election campaign, it has been well known for years that this would be the case…the BBC after all has been bringing us NHS ‘disaster’ stories practically everyday and has been running  an ‘NHS Winter Tracker’ which informs you of the state of the NHS in your region…why would the BBC do that?  Because it thinks the bare figures, unadorned by explanation and reasons, would lead you to think the NHS was in meltdown.

 

So let’s shed a bit of light on the subject ourselves as the BBC fails to do so….the NHS is important, and Labour claims the Tories will cut the NHS and privatise it…….but isn’t that just a little hypocritical of Labour when they themselves would spend less than the Tories and were eager to privatise it?

Labour has been accused of scaremongering:

Labour accused of ‘scaremongering’ after claiming the NHS will be ‘sunk’ if the Tories win the general election 

 

Labour’s Health Minister, Andy Burnham, says:

‘If the NHS stays on its current course it will be sunk by a toxic mix of cuts and privatisation.’

 

Now that’s pretty curious because in 2010 the same Andy Burnham in an interview with the New Statesman said:

Burnham:  Cameron’s been saying it every week in the Commons: “Oh, the shadow health secretary wants to spend less on health than us.”

NS:  Which is true, isn’t it?

Burnham:  Yes, it is true, but that’s my point.

 

So he admitted then that Labour would spend less than the Tories on the NHS.

But what of his claims that the Tories are privatising the NHS?

We looked at this earlier, ‘The NHS Has Been Privatised….Vote Labour!’, illustrating the BBC’s abysmal lack of truthfulness in their reports when using this headline,  ‘A third of NHS contracts awarded to private firms – report’ to lead into a report that actually admitted only 6% of NHS contracts by value were given to private companies.

But what did Labour say in its 2010 manifesto, when Burnham was still Health Minister?….bearing in mind that Labour complains loudly that just the act of reforming the NHS is problematic….

‘We will continue to press ahead with bold NHS reforms. All hospitals will become Foundation Trusts, with successful FTs given the support and incentives to take over those that are under-performing. Failing hospitals will have their management replaced. Foundation Trusts will be given the freedom to expand their provision into primary and community care, and to increase their private services – where these are consistent with NHS values, and provided they generate surpluses that are invested directly into the NHS.
We will support an active role for the independent sector working alongside the NHS in the provision of care, particularly where they bring innovation – such as in end-of-life care and cancer services, and increase capacity. ‘
Where changes are needed, we will be fair to NHS services and staff and give them a chance to improve, but where they fail to do so we will look to alternative provision.

 

Burnham claims that Labour only used private contractors to drive down waiting times but that clearly isn’t the case…the intent was to use them when they were more efficient and more effective than NHS services….Foundation Trusts themselves being semi-privatised services….never mind the budget busting PFI’s used to fund new hospitals.

 

So in summary…..Burnham, Labour, wanted to cut NHS spending and to privatise its services….and yet he claims….‘If the NHS stays on its current course it will be sunk by a toxic mix of cuts and privatisation.’

 

And just for fun, what did Labour want to do in its 2010 manifesto with the GP’s who now fail us so badly?

The GP access guarantee will ensure everyone has the right to choose a GP in their area offering evening and weekend opening.
We will ensure the NHS suits the lives of busy families expanding further the availability of GP-led health centres open seven days a week ‘8 til 8’ in towns and cities.

 

So they recognised that the lack of  access to GP  services was failing patients and needed reform.

And what about immigration….surely all this is a bit ‘bigoted’….

We understand people’s concerns about immigration – about whether it will undermine their wages or job prospects, or put pressure on public services or housing – and we have acted. Asylum claims are down to the levels of the early 1990s and net inward migration has fallen. We will use our new Australian-style points-based system to ensure that as growth returns we see rising employment and wages, not rising immigration – but we reject the arbitrary and unworkable Tory quota.

Our new Australian-style points-based system is ensuring we get the migrants our economy needs, but no more. We will gradually tighten the criteria in line with the needs of the British economy and the values of British citizenship, and step up our action against illegal immigration. There will be no unskilled migration from outside the EU.

We recognise that immigration can place pressures on housing and public services in some communities so we will expand the Migration Impact Fund, paid for by contributions from migrants, to help local areas.

Because we believe coming to Britain is a privilege and not a right, we will break the automatic link between staying here for a set period and being able to settle or gain citizenship.

 

I wonder if that all counts as part of the ‘race to the bottom’ as Labour now so rudely calls the competing party policies on immigration…except their own of course.