I trust you will have read the reports about the dozens of people who have been damaged by having routine eye surgery performed by private health contractors in England. This is the result of the privatisation of our health service, where, since the election of 2010, 80% of all contracts awarded by the NHS have gone to the private sector. When Westminster politicians tell us that they have no intention of privatising our heath system they are lying through their teeth. In addition, if you believe a word that the Better Together campaign tell you regarding the position of the health service in Scotland you are simply delusional. Despite the fact that health in Scotland is a devolved responsibility, if you think that this will continue following a No vote you really are gullible. I ask you to contemplate that if we vote no in September do you really think that your health service will continue to be fully devolved when England and Wales are undergoing the full force of privatisation? Do you really believe that the private vultures who control Westminster will pass up the opportunities that will present themselves in Scotland for exploitation and profit-making?
Since 2003 £5billion has been diverted from the NHS into the private sector and the medical professionals have all been shouting to successive governments about the catastrophic effects this is having on patients with some companies failing to actually do up to 30% of the work they have been contracted for. One firm received over £35 million for doing nothing at all. The Tories are now openly talking about requiring you to pay to visit your GP and Accident and Emergency. What if you can't pay?
I am bemused why no-one seems to actually realise what is happening to the NHS, or what the Tories are openly telling you is going to happen if they win another term in office. I conclude that people cannot bring themselves to actually accept what is happening, and that they still believe what Westminster tells them. People genuinely look at me in disbelief when I tell them that over the past 25 years the NHS has lost half of all its beds. Official NHS figures show that in 1988 there were 297,000 hospital beds in the UK and there are now 135,000. This is because the government are applying the Shock Doctrine to the NHS by artificially creating a crisis and then telling us that the NHS needs reformed and needs the discipline of 'the market' to get if functioning efficiently. In other words, successive governments, and that includes Labour, have deliberately run the NHS down in order to justify privatising it. The other ploy is to remove services forcing foundation trusts to turn to the private sector to fulfil their statutory duties to patients.
I consistently warn you about the depths that Westminster will sink to in order to get its own way. They have been complicit in covering up patient deaths, such as Morecambe Bay and Mid-Staffs in order to hide the truth about private provision of essential services. This was the result of the NHS being taken out of political control at local level and away from any form of public accountability. This was started under Labour and deepened under the coalition. All hospitals are desperate to get foundation status that allows them to generate half their income from the private sector. Thus, bad news and patient deaths jeopardise that golden goose, solution, cover up any incompetence, simples.
I could go on for days about what is being done, its all in the public domain, unfortunately the public do not appear to be concerned. We should be very concerned in Scotland however because it can all be avoided. If you vote No in September, be under no illusions, you are voting for the end of the NHS. You have been warned.
Your Servant
Doktor Kommirat
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