Why I’m marching in defence of the NHS

From the 16 August this year, I’ll be joining those marching in defence of the NHS from Jarrow. I have been asked why have I decided to spend a week of my summer holidays marching with others from across the country to highlight the current situation in the National Health Service. As a new MEP, I certainly need a holiday after a strenuous campaign to win two Labour seats in the North East. However, it was on the campaign that I became convinced that the 999 March for the NHS was crucial to send a visible and strong signal to this government that there are “folk left with the faith to fight for it” (to quote the visionary Nye Bevan in 1945).

As I grew up, my Mum – a keen health policy activist – certainly had that spirit as she worked on pilot research for the Citizens’ Advice Bureau on how to address the gaps between clinical care in the NHS and social care and mental health – gaps into which many of her CAB clients found themselves falling. It is therefore with real pride that I can say that the Andy Burnham and the Labour health team are developing thinking on how to create an integrated ‘whole person’ health system bringing these 3 areas into the national health framework – a shame Mum is not here to see it or contribute her tuppence.

I want to ensure that Andy gets a chance to put these proposals forward after 2015, but the Torys, LibDems and UKIP are keen to see further privatisation of services – often profiting their political donors directly. Privatisation of services is now being ‘locked in’ through international trade agreements around the WTO (the so-called Trade in Services Agreement or TISA) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Agreement (TTIP).

Inclusion in these agreements would allow the US pharmaceutical industry to target the centralised NHS procurement system which holds down the price of drugs based on the service’s own assessments of value for money. This would have far-reaching consequences: a 1/4 of all government purchases of medication worldwide use NHS reference prices, according to estimates by the Office of Fair Trading. Public policy loathed by American pharmaceutical companies, which prefer procurement prices based on rigged markets.

Therefore, I intend to play my part in ensuring that the NHS and social care are excluded from these talks. This is what people have asked me to do as their elected representative.

Judith Kirton-Darling is a Labour MEP representing the North-East. Information about the march can be found here.