The already under funded Health service will reach breaking point if the plans outlined in the McKinsey report are implemented, this will see at least 10,000 workers sacked from the Health service in Northern Ireland.
The McKinsey report is a document which will be used to carve up our health service with horrifying outcomes.
The report states that already we spend less than 7% and 16% less per head of population than in comparison with England . Far from the McKinsey report taking this into account ,it ploughs ahead devising up how to cut our health service and make it more ‘productive’.
Reports from the Royal college of Nurses have also revealed that 1 in 8 nurses are set to lose their jobs from the cutbacks add this to the proposals in the McKinsey report –our health service will be run into the ground.
Cuts have already been happening in our health service. In the past four years there has already been a £48 million cut in our health service –with staff losing their jobs and reduction in the amount of beds available for patients.
Despite this £320,000 of public money can be wasted on the Mc Kinsey report .Can the health minister tell us why he forked out this huge amount of money on a report which will destroy our health service? How many more nurses, cleaners and clerical staff could we have employed with this money?
Although the most shocking thing about the report is the amount of people who will be kicked out of a job onto the dole queue –the actual principle of the NHS is in danger of being completely destroyed.
The report talks about ‘challenging the principle that NHS is free at the point of delivery ‘.The proposal is that people will have to pay to visit A&E. Imagine that –if you are injured or sick you won’t be able to go to Accident and Emergency unless you have the money! This is a horrible attack on our health service and will close the health off from working class people; it needs to be fought against tooth and nail.
Fight back.
People before Profit candidate for West Belfast Gerry Carroll stated ‘The McKinsey report is a nasty attack on our health service which will see at least 10,000 workers sacked from the NHS, the motive of profit put at the heart of our health service and only those who afford will be able to receive treatment’.
What we need now is a fight back. I stand in full support of workers fighting to defend our health service. The encouraging thing is that health workers in Unison are now balloting for strike action to defeat these plans. What we need is for every worker in the health service to come out and strike together to defend our NHS from the carving knife’.
Industrial action is the only way that we can send a message to the politicians and HSCNI management that our health service will not be destroyed ,will not be run for profit and should continue to treat people who are sick regardless of whether they have the money or not’.
The report states that it needs to ‘marshal support from political leaders’, I call on all political leaders to support the scrapping of the McKinsey report and instead to support and standby our health workers who are fighting to defend an essential service for us all’.
