To: Boris Johnson
Call on government to pause its major reorganisation of the NHS and social care
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The government is planning a major reorganisation of our NHS and social care and it has set out its proposals in the white paper 'Integration and innovation: working together to improve health and social care for all'. Despite the title, the government has not included its full plans for social care. Furthermore, its plans for the NHS have massive ramifications for patients, NHS staff, care workers and unpaid carers. We are calling on Boris Johnson to personally intervene and pause the whole process until all Covid-19 restrictions are lifted, and to then carry out a full public consultation on the proposals.
Why is this important?
The proposals would, among other things:
- increase fragmentation of the NHS by putting Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) on a statutory
footing
- embed a postcode lottery, so that the health and social care services that you can access will
vary depending on where you live
- open up the opportunity for private companies to have a say in what health and social care is
provided in an area – creating huge potential for conflicts of interest
- allow hospitals to discharge vulnerable patients before they have been assessed for NHS
Continuing Healthcare (CHC) and NHS Funded Nursing Care (FNC), leaving families to pick up
the pieces – and leaving those without family potentially at risk of being left without the care
they need
- bring uncertainty to the future of the NHS workforce by failing to set out any precise limits to
the scale and scope of any restructuring
- leave the issue of access to and the funding of social care unaddressed – yet again
It is simply wrong for the government to rush ahead with such major changes while NHS and care staff are exhausted from fighting Covid-19 and at a time when meaningful public engagement, including public meetings, can't take place.
The government will soon be publishing a Bill to bring its proposals into effect and make them law.
This petition is designed to put pressure on the government to do the right thing, pause the process until after all Covid-19 restrictions are lifted, and then carry out a full public consultation so that patients, NHS staff, care workers and unpaid carers can have their say.
It is vital Boris Johnson listens to our concerns and takes action.
