Beyond the rhetoric, Stephen Colegrave produces nine examples of the UK Prime Minister’s lack of care for the NHS in its time of greatest need
Boris Johnson clapped for the NHS on the steps of Number 10 Downing Street and seemed understandably grateful to the NHS nurses who had looked after him in intensive care when he was struck down by COVID-19. But does he and his Government really care about the NHS? The facts speak for themselves.
1. NHS Staff had the Highest Death Rates in Europe and America
If Johnson and his Government really cared about the NHS, they would have protected its nurses, doctors and other staff much better. The data proves that this was not the case.
Amnesty International reported on 13 July that there were more than 540 of the 3000 total global health and social care deaths were from England and Wales. This was higher than anywhere else in Europe. The report was supported by Medscape Data that also showed the UK had more health worker deaths than anywhere else in Europe and more per million of population than in America.
The Government also failed to protect the NHS with Personal Protection Equipment (PPE). Even in late April, enough PPE was not getting through. On 20 April, Matt Hancock was boasting he had obtained 400,000 gowns from Turkey but when they eventually arrived many were faulty.
If the Government cared about the NHS, they would have commissioned companies with a proper track record of obtaining and manufacturing PPE not the likes of Luxe Lifestyle Ltd awarded a £25 million contract with no employees or experience and £18.48 million to Aventis Solutions Ltd, a recruitment company.
2. Herd Immunity Strategy Swamped the NHS
Johnson talked about ‘Flattening the curve’ of the demand for the NHS, but his actions did not follow this. On 13 March, according to Channel 4’s Dispatches Johnson told the Italian Prime Minister during a phone call that ‘herd immunity’ was the UK Government’s aim.
On the same day, the Government’s Chief Scientific Officer, Sir Patrick Vallance told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the Government’s approach to tacking COVID-19 had the benefit of creating ‘herd immunity’ across the UK. Johnson knew exactly how fast the infection rate was growing.
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At the 2 March COBRA meeting, he was told there were already 11,000 infections and the Imperial College Modelling indicated 250,000 people would die if there was no lockdown and he still risked the NHS by ignoring the facts for another 3 weeks.
3: Selling Off the NHS for a US Trade Deal
Despite continual protestations by Johnson that access to the NHS will not be part of any trade deal with America, on 27 November last year Byline Times revealed that leaked documents from the Department of International Trade’s secret talks with the UK-US Trade & Investment Working Group told a different story.
The documents showed that the “baseline” assumption of “total market access” to the UK. One of these explained that “NHS access to generic drugs…would be a key consideration going forward”, which shows Johnson is happy to give America access to the £20 billion medicines budget, which is rising faster than other healthcare costs at £5% per year. This bill will balloon massively if American big pharmaceutical companies have their way in trade negotiations.
The NHS is very cost-effective in terms of medicines at a £365 per head cost versus £946 in America according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in 2017.
4: Frontline Nurses Pay
Although giving the nurses who saved his life great praise, Johnson is reluctant to reflect this in their or their colleagues’ pay. Chancellor, Rishi Sunak announced that public sector workers would be getting an above inflation pay rises including 3.1% for police officers and 2.8% for doctors and dentists.
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However, Nurses were excluded because they had already had an increase with a three-year deal in 2018. He claimed this was an average of 4.4% this year ignoring the fact that most frontline nurses are in Band 5 and will only receive a 1.65% rise. This doesn’t seem very generous especially when a Band 5 salary is only £24,907 a year, rising to £26,970 after two years’ experience and below the average UK salary of £29,600. Members of Parliament had a 3.1% pay rise on 1 April 2020.
5: Threatened to Sack NHS Whistleblowers
Byline Times was contacted by many NHS staff with information about lack of PPE and testing but were afraid to give their names as many had been told they would be sacked if they talked to the Press.
Liberty Investigates revealed an email from the head of intensive care at Royal Free Hospital, Dr Daniel OBE, informing his colleagues at the peak of the pandemic that the trust would “track any leaks to the media” and “offer you a chance to post your P45 on Facebook for all to see”.
This was typical of what was happening throughout the NHS because of pressure from Johnson’s Government and especially the Secretary of Health, Matt Hancock.
6: Lack of Care for Real Patients
When confronted with meeting the parents of a real patient during the General Election he reacted really strangely, refused to look at pictures of four-year-old Jack William-Barr who was forced to sleep on the floor as he had a long wait to be seen at Accident and Emergency and pocketed the phone with the pictures on.