Save Liverpool Women’s Hospital is part of a coalition of campaigns fighting to Restore and Repair the NHS, and to win full staffing (with good pay, conditions, and qualifications) to improve the health of our largely working-class communities in Cheshire and Merseyside. One of the tasks we do together is to monitor the activities of the ICB, the so-called Integrated Care Board which replaced the NHS in the 2022 Health and Care Act. We have to resist the vicious cuts being made and challenge the damage being done.

The Cheshire and Merseyside ICS  is meeting in New Brighton on 25^th January, from 9.00am to midday. People can ask questions from 9 until 9.30

Location: Tower Room, Floral Pavilion Theatre & Conference Centre, Marine Promenade, New Brighton, Wallasey CH45 2JS.Free parking opposite the Fort Perch car park.

https://www.cheshireandmerseyside.nhs.uk/get-involved/upcoming-meetings-and-events/nhs-cheshire-and-merseyside-integrated-care-board-january-2024/

Even before we read the paperwork for the ICB meeting, ( It should be published this week) we know patients and staff face serious issues and we will not sit back and let our services be reorganized out of existence. We will though post a comment about the issues when the paperwork is published on their website.

These problems are all solvable if privatization is withdrawn and we revert to a public service healthcare model based on publicly funded and publicly delivered care as the NHS was founded. Fortunately, the original NHS model of healthcare happens to be the most cost-efficient model of care. The privatization and cuts that have plagued our NHS for two decades have robbed us of what was judged the best healthcare in the world in 2014 by the Commonwealth Fund, a US charity that surveys health systems each year.

Yes, it will require investment to Repair and Restore the NHS. However, that investment will repay itself in the health of the population and in enriching the economy.

“… spending on the NHS should be regarded as an investment, not a cost. Improving population health can drive higher levels of economic growth across the country.” https://www.nhsconfed.org/publications/analysis-link-between-investing-health-and-economic-growth

Even the World Bank a leading light in the world of global capitalism agrees. It said good population health, nutrition, and education create the foundation for sustainable economic growth. It is now much better understood that a well-educated, healthy, and well-nourished workforce pays bigger dividends to the economy than simply building new roads and bridges. 

Please tell us what the key issues in healthcare are for you. These are some issues we want to highlight ahead of the ICB meeting., but you may have issues we don’t yet know about.

Do come along if you are free on the 25th of January to this meeting with your questions and /or to support the campaign.

These are healthcare issues that we know are facing us in Cheshire and Merseyside healthcare.

1. Deeper privatization and structural change to allow such privatization. It is now even easier for the ICB to give contracts to private companies without going through public procedures. GP practices can be bought and sold. See below. NHS campaigners are monitoring how much ICB spends is given to big corporations. For more information on just two companies see this. Privatization means not only does our healthcare have to pay profit on top of cost but the companies are, by law, aiming to make the the highest profit, not providing the highest care, and each company is likely to be taken over by another company particularly hedge funds or the huge US health corporations. Privatization of public services is a disaster.
2. Reduction of services. The NHS /ICB has fewer beds and fewer doctors per head of population than comparable countries. The Kings Fund wrote in a comparison study of health care in advanced economies”The UK also has fewer hospital beds; 2.5 beds per 1,000 people, compared to an average of 3.2 beds per 1,000 in our basket. Again, fewer beds are not necessarily bad – this could reflect shorter hospital stays – but the high occupancy rates of beds in the UK (88 percent in 2022/23, above recommended levels, and third highest in our basket) implies there is a shortage.” Local hospitals have been way above 88 percent bed occupancy this year. The Royal College of Emergency Medicine said the huge loss of beds since 2010-11 was causing “real patient harm” and a “serious patient safety crisis”.“Since 2010-11 the NHS has lost 25,000 beds across the UK, as a result, bed occupancy has risen, ambulance response times have risen, A&E waiting times have increased, cancelled elective care operations have increased.“
3.  Greater problems with underfunding. The extent of Cuts ( CIPs) is dreadful, especially in this time of high inflation. Hospitals are given a budget by the ICB and have to show where they are going to make”Cost Improvements”. Reducing the service, though, is part and parcel of the ICS model imported from the USA. Each hospital is expected to make CIPs/cuts of about 5%. These are utterly unrealistic without causing still more preventable deaths, and the rules are saying the cuts must be replicable next year too with more cuts again. The NHS is underfunded and the strikes have cost money. The government could have settled the disputes for much less than the disputes have cost, but still refused to settle the disputes or to fund the costs to the hospitals. This all means longer waiting lists longer queues in Accident and Emergency and longer waits for ambulances. The BMA said last year“ Between 2009/10 and 2021/22, the cumulative underspend – the difference between what funding would have been if historical growth rates had been maintained, and what was actually provided – reached £322 billion in real terms.“
4. The introduction of physician associates and other less qualified roles to replace doctors’ roles. https://www.bma.org.uk/bma-media-centre/bma-calls-for-immediate-pause-on-recruitment-of-physician-associates Although some PAs have been in place for some time the government is bringing in more lower-skilled staff rather than train and pay doctors.  We have seen the growth of other roles in General Practice. but this has not solved the problems. Pharmacists have proven useful but even The safest system is for patients first to see a qualified physician and then to be referred to a nurse or other health professional.  When we go for treatment we need to know how qualified the member of staff is. There is a consultation from the British Medical Association that you can take part in here. Margaret Greenwood MP for Wirral West spoke in Parliament about this. Her contribution can be found here.
5. Our people in our working-class communities already die too young as shown in this report from Liverpool City Council. This class divide in health care is replicated across Cheshire and Merseyside with huge differences in life expectancy and life expectancy in good health between the rich and poor. The differences in health between different areas across Cheshire and Merseyside are stark and heartbreaking but we want better services for people in Walton and Woolton, for Crewe and Macclesfield the poorer and better-off areas of Cheshire and Merseyside. This country can provide far better healthcare for all. Our Government chooses not to do so. The slightly better-off communities are not the cause of the extreme poverty that has returned to this country.
6. NHS Staff pay and conditions. Our area has had the greatest involvement of healthcare workers in industrial action. They deserve our full solidarity and they still have not got a fair deal. Fair pay and good working conditions for staff at every level are requirements of an effective health service. nationally 112,000 vacancies are unfilled. For more details on staffing see this.
7. A separate dispute at Arrowe Parke Hospital over back pay and grading is dragging on, with 100 or more pickets out in the cold winter. This strike is making history. The courage and determination are a model for others to follow.
8. The proportion of the NHS budget spent on General Practice is due to fall to its lowest point in at least eight years. We need better GP services.
9. Meanwhile, Centene the US health corporation is selling  60 GP practices to another company! HCRG is the entity that replaced Virgin Health when 75% of the shares were bought out in 2021 by Twenty20 Capital, which is a British-owned private equity group. So our GP practices are now at the mercy of the market! ( Thanks to research from Note by Carol Saunders (Tower Hamlets KONP & NELSON)
10. The situation at Liverpool Women’s Hospital continues to cause concern. It is part of the national maternity scandal, although Liverpool Women’s is fortunate to have a full staff of midwives, albeit as measured by the government’s meager staffing levels. We need more midwives but are very pleased to see the new young midwives arrive at the hospital and we hope that they stay for many years. Midwives need respect, good pay, good working conditions, and access to ongoing professional education. The new Chief Executive of Liverpool Women’s Hospital said “.. the organization was well organized, and there were limited opportunities for further internally driven efficiencies to reduce the financial deficit position. Work would therefore need to continue to influence the national maternity tariff and the CNST premium – both significant cost pressures to the Trust.” He also said, according to the December Trust Board minutes, “The RQR meeting had also provided an opportunity for the Trust to outline significant safety issues that required immediate action. This included 24/7 obstetric cover, development of a Medical Emergency Team (MET), blood bank availability, anesthetic cover, and ongoing work on the antiracism agenda.” despite this, the hospital is expected to make significant CIPs( cuts)
11. Money given for dentistry cannot be spent because of changes to the service contracts for dentists, yet thousands go without. The NHS  is on course for  £400m underspend on its dental contract!!
12. Waiting lists. The waiting lists for hospital treatment rose to a record of 7.8 million in November 2023 and this winter has not made things better.
13. Allowing Palantir access to our most personal data. We are told it is not yet happening here but that train is rolling. NHS is paying the company a huge sum of £480 million for this service which will give the company access to data worth billions and which will further enrich the health insurance conglomerates and big Pharma. They will administer a key system for the NHS, and the Post Office Horizon scandal tells us just how important it is that such systems work well for the users, not those who want to make a profit. For further details on this issue see https://www.foxglove.org.uk/2024/01/11/nhs-federated-data-platform-need-to-know/
14. Stress and pain for patients and staff are caused by the deliberate policies of this government and all who support NHS restructuring for profit rather than care. We thank the staff who have been the best protectors of our care and point the blame squarely on this and earlier governments.
15. Pharmaceuticals. Too many patients cannot get the medication they need. Chasing around different chemists has become familiar.” Multinational health corporations are raking in huge profits while demanding the UK’s National Health Service pay high prices for their products. The excessive power wielded by these firms needs curbing if UK health policy is to truly work in the public interest.” says author Nick Deardon. The NHS once had, and could have again, a powerful position in buying from big companies as the world’s biggest single purchaser. The scale of big pharma gives them huge power. There is a powerful campaign being run on this issue which you can contact here
16. The use of and cost of agency staff is a waste of money. We know that staff sometimes need flexible working especially with the poor level of NHS pay and the huge cost of childcare. The shortage of staff has become another way for big businesses to rip off the health service. In 2017 the government sold off NHS Professionals. The Canary paper wrote at the time“The DoH owns NHS Professionals (NHSP), a private limited company created to supply a bank of over 90,000 medical staff across different NHS Trusts. The flexible arrangements apparently save the government £70m a year in costs while non-government-owned private staffing agencies can be around 30% more expensive.” HCRG, remember them from the private sale of GP practices earlier in the article ( point 8 )? Well, they are one of the agencies cashing in in NHS funds through agency staff.
17. The Royal College of Nurses reported “Findings from a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to NHS trusts in England expose a total of £3.2bn spent on agency staff by hospitals between 2020 and 2022.…..According to RCN analysis, three-quarters of nursing vacancies in the NHS in England could be filled if the money had been redirected to hiring permanent staff. Cash spent on agencies could cover the salaries of 30,956 permanent full-time equivalent nurses paid at the top of a Band 5 salary (£34,581).