Tag: nhs

What Can the US Nurses’ Campaign for Medicare for All Teach Organisers in the UK?
Today UK volunteers will call people in the US to encourage them to demand Medicare for All, which would guarantee healthcare for all Americans. Jo Beardsmore takes a look at what can be learnt from the nurses' campaign for Medicare for All to inform the fight to defend and expand free universal healthcare in the UK.
The NHS Should Be for Everyone – And That Includes Migrants
On the 70th birthday of the NHS, Dr Joanna Dobbin argues the government’s quiet scrapping of visa restrictions for overseas doctors while denying free healthcare to patients from abroad shows how our health service is only international when it suits the Home Office.
Doctors Send Spoof ‘Go Home’ Van Around Westminster to Protest the Hostile Environment
Doctors, nurses and midwives gathered outside the home office to demonstrate against the Tories’ attempts to force NHS workers to carry out immigration enforcement duties, as part of an action by charity Doctors of the World, which helps migrants denied access to healthcare.
Cold Comfort: How the ‘Hostile Environment’ Reinforces Violence Against Women
The government's 'hostile environment' policy forces health sector workers to act as Home Office informants. As a result, many migrant women are being kept in abusive relationships and denied access to safe abortion services.
Cold Comfort: Privatisation Is Running the NHS Into the Ground
In part three of a series covering the NHS winter crisis from within A&E, Dr J explains how back door privatisation of the NHS amounts to nothing short of political corruption - and is risking lives.
Cold Comfort: So-Called ‘Tough Decisions’ Are Putting Patients at Risk
In part two of a series covering the NHS winter crisis from within A&E, Dr J asks how the language of 'difficult choices' and 'tough decisions' undercuts the key principles of a universal NHS while distracting us from the political decisions underlying the crisis.
Cold Comfort: A&E Fills With Those Left in the Cold
In part one of a new series covering the NHS 'winter pressures' from within A&E, Dr J reflects on the relationship between housing and health, and what it means for rough sleepers and the hidden homeless.
I’m a Social Work Student Who Went on Fee Strike. Here’s What I Learned
Social work students at Goldsmiths university went on strike last year, when they discovered at the last minute that their NHS bursaries would not be enough to cover their increased course fees. One participant reflects on what he hoped to achieve and what he learned from taking part in the UK's first student fee strike.
Tory Promises to Improve Mental Healthcare Ignore the Reality of Living With Mental Illness
Here's why simplistic rhetoric and a small investment are not going to fix a broken system, which is letting people down.
Serco vs Staff: Why Barts Health Cleaners Are Voting to Strike
Last year Barts Health NHS Trust awarded a £600m ten-year cleaning, portering and security contract to outsourcer Serco. But due to unmanageable workloads, poor pay and inadequate resources, hospital staff are now voting on taking strike action.
Killing Us Softly: A Short History of Biopower in the NHS
This week's long read exposes the phony narrative of an NHS for all, instead revealing an institution that has, from its conception, existed to serve the needs of capital.
No Patient is Illegal: Fighting Borders in the NHS

This week, migrant activists protested changes to UK law, which will see healthcare workers co-opted as agents in the continuing assault on the rights and lives of UK migrants. Yesterday, a group of protesters dressed as patients in hospital gowns, doctors in scrubs, and border guards blocked the path of those heading into work at the Department […]

We Will Lose Our NHS
Aaron shows four key areas where the NHS is in freefall. The solution to the present crisis? More resources, an end to outsourcing and, of course, the resignation of Jeremy Hunt.
Jeremy Hunt is Killing the NHS
Last week the CEO of the British Red Cross said the NHS was facing a 'humanitarian crisis'. Aaron looks at the service's recent problems and how they reflect an intentional project, by the Tory Party, to privatise healthcare in the UK.
Who is Paul Nuttall?
Aaron Bastani unpacks some of the policies of UKIP's new leader
Department for Education Emails Reveal a Crisis in Children’s Mental Health Policy
In May the mental health for schools champion was fired for criticising government policy, suggesting the Tories are more concerned with PR than children's mental wellbeing.
Treat, Don’t Police! Fighting the Immigration Act in the NHS
The Byron raids highlighted the extent to which companies are complicit in immigration enforcement, but the government's pursuit of a 'hostile environment' for undocumented migrants is asking NHS workers to police patients.
Beyond TTIP: The Murky Pro-Corporate Trade Agenda is Bad For Our Health
Although the EU referendum brought TTIP out into the light, Brexit won't stop the threat posed to public services by the pro-corporate trade agenda