999 call for the NHS

Over the last few days I've been writing about the 999 call for the NHS march that is coming through Northampton on the evening of Monday 1st September and leaving Northampton for Bedford on Tuesday 2nd September.

If you cannot make the march, there are lots of ways that you can help. One thing you can do is to write to your MP and ask them to support  Clive Efford MP's private member's bill (NHS amended duties and powers).
To:-
• stop the Privatisation of the NHS,
• restore the legal duty of the Secretary of State for Health to provide National Health Services,
• amend the Health and Social Care Act 2012 to remove the competition requirements,
• amend the ability to provide private health services,
• amend the provisions of the Health and Social Care Act 2012 relating to Monitor,
• repeal Section 75 Regulations.

If you live ing Northampton South you can email Brian Binley MP on brian.binley.mp@parliament.uk
and if you live in Northampton North you can email Michael Ellis on michael.ellis.mp@parliament.uk

If you contact your MP, make it clear that you live in their constituency and try and write even just one sentence about why you are concerned about the NHS.

If you're on social media use the following hashtags:
#‎999MarchNorthants‬
#999callfornhs
#darlomums

You can find more information about the Northampton events here

Don't be too sure of the "No Chance"

Cynthia Spencer Hospice is not under threat despite having to find £1.5 to £2million year on year in the future.

So where's the money going to come from. That's easy - it comes from us.

Don't I already pay for that in my taxes I hear you say?  Well er ... yes. But the local public LOVE Cynthia Spencer and will give money because they won't want it to close.

The problem is that there's only a certain amount of money in people's pockets that they want to and can give. Every day local people find more and more appeals for their funds. Many of the national charities have high profile marketing for fundraising, celebrity endorsements etc. These and other good causes are well placed to pull in the pounds. Other smaller local charities like the ones i work with are less able to do this and money reduces and reduces. When Great Britain won the chance to put on the Olympics a £425million was spent on the Olympic infrastructure which otherwise have been given to good causes. Cynthia Spencer Hospice fundraising to maintain existing services as a result of Nene Clinical Commissioning Groups cut will mean less money for local charities.

The local newspaper's story runs as "No chance of Cynthia Spencer closing". Currently, on it's Facebook page it's positioned just above a headline about Favell House closing. Another facility where NHS budgets were changed and the local community were meant to get behind to make up the difference. Sound familiar?

The cuts get going . Where do we head when the decisions have been taken

At the start of the year, I said that the key priority was to protect the NHS. Now that the vote in parliament has consigned its fate, what hope for the future?

There is a need to learn from the last few months and to identify how the campaign could have worked better. Over 2012 so far there have been game changing campaigns that have really hit hard, although perhaps the anti-cuts campaign that commanded the most diverse and most emotive support, it failed to be as joined up as it could and was all the time competing with campaigns about Welfare reform and legal aid.

Here there is a well argued analysis of the weaknesses of the campaign by Dr John Lister from London Health Emergency. Critically highlights the future direction of the campaign as campaigning for a NHS Restoration Act, and a commitment to stop the squeeze and pump new funds into the NHS."

With the Legal Aid and Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders bill (LASPO) rearing its head in the commons after stimulating a number of government defeats in the Lords there are more calls for further campaign action.

In the Lords, government defeats include:

· Protection of access to legal aid for all victims of domestic violence

· Keeping legal aid clinical negligence cases where the negligence occurs around birth

· Keeping legal aid for welfare benefit appeals and reviews and for onward appeals to the higher tribunal and courts in welfare benefit cases

· Ensuring the Independence of the Director of Legal Aid Casework

· Rejection of a telephone gateway

A real issue for Northamptonshire with 2843 affected just from the legal aid proposals. However in all the cacophony of the justice for all and Sounds off for justice campaign, where’s the support for discrimination advice. I wrote a guest blog post about it here. Regrettably it still seems an issue that there are too few voices shouting for. A service that is needed for when things go wrong in situations that people really believe will not happen to them. As with other cuts, - You’ll miss it when it’s gone.