Jarrow to Westminster!

On the 16th August 2014 I set off from Jarrow, near Newcastle on a 300 mile march to Westminster. My purpose was to make you and other people around the country aware of the very real damage that is being done to our National Health Service.

My fellow marchers and I walked every day for between 11 and 20 miles. There were no rest days and we spent most nights sleeping on the floors of church halls and community centres. We all had our own very personal reasons why we were willing to put ourselves through this hardship but we were united in our grief for the damage that has already been done to the service that cares for all of us in our hour of need.

In 2010 the NHS was the best it has ever been, waiting lists for treatment had been reduced or wiped out, staff morale was good, you could get a GP appointment within 24 hours, preventative work like smoking cessation and addictions treatment were strong and patient satisfaction was high. In 4 short years that has all changed.

The first piece of damage done was the removal of the gold standard target of being able to see your GP within 48 hours. The reason that this is such an important issue is that a 1 or 2 week delay for the initial diagnosis can mean the difference between receiving effective treatment; annoying enough if you have to suffer longer with a minor ailment but life and death for some cancer patients.

The next Government action was to start the top down NHS reorganisation which they had assured us before the election that they would not do. It cost us, the tax payer, a whopping £3 Billion and it took money away from the what it was meant for ie to pay for doctors, nurses and treatments. This reorganisation has also opened up health commissioning to allow private companies to extract profits and pay shareholders from our hard earned tax contributions. About 6% of NHS services are currently in private ownership but this will become a flood once the Clinical Commissioning Groups have mastered their new role. 2015 will see the first of the new contracts and within 5 years the NHS may be irreparable.

To continue down this road will mean the rise of private, US style health insurance; a system that is renowned as the poorest and the most expensive. I have already met local people who have been forced to pay privately for treatments like cataract operations and removal of painful varicose veins.

You and I can put a stop to all this nonsense: We are the 6th richest country in the world and we still have a NHS worth fighting for. The solution is to reverse the legislation, only the Labour Party can do this and I marched 300 miles to tell you that.

Please follow my campaign on social media; all my links can be found at www.fionadentlabour.com