Thanks to those who voted in the poll of top local issues on this blog. It is clear that the NHS/Hospital is the top concern of those voting. What I and the Green Party would aim to campaign to bring about is:
1) Investment in our hospital must increase at the same rate as local demand and population. Yes the hospital is currently trying to recruit more nurses and has gained some additional doctors in the last few years. However it is still overwhelmed because Colchester's population increased by 17,000 from 2001-2011 and is still increasing. Also the hospital is cutting non-front line staff which means more work for those left. We need increased funding to end the problem of the beds being available but patients not allowed to occupy them because of lack of staff.
2) The Green Party will increase overall national NHS funding by 12 billion per year. this will be paid for by a combination of a Wealth Tax, increasing the top rate of income tax to 60% and saving £30 billion lost in tax evasion / tax avoidance. Labour has not made it clear by how much they would increase NHS funding.
3) We would reverse the 2012 Health & Social Care Act. This removes from the Secretary of State For Health the duty to provide healthcare and gives it to new GP commissioning bodies. These have to give equal consideration to private providers and are encouraged to buy cheap services from the latter. This is a key stepping stone to privatisation and the driving down of quality.
The video below explains what it currently happening to our NHS. The Green Party would reverse this process.
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