Main description:

The NHS is in crisis. The past 10 years of Tory real-terms cuts in funding has been disastrous. This book looks at the threat to the NHS posed by the combination of two years of a global pandemic with the relentless policies pursued by Tory-led governments since 2010.

With contributions by 13 experts on different aspects of the crisis:

Lobby Akkinnola, Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice
Rehana Azam, National Secretary, Public Services GMB union;
Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary, National Education Union, on Covid, education and schools;
Sara Gorton, Head of Health UNISON, on pay and conditions of NHS staff;
Colenzo Jarrett-Thorpe, National Officer Unite, the Health & Care Bill, on ambulance and other staff;
Roger Kline, Research fellow at Middlesex University, on equalities and BAME;
Roy Lilley, health policy analyst, on management views;
Michael Mansfield, barrister QC, on holding the government to account;
Sir Michael Marmot, Prof. of Epidemiology & Public Health, University College London, Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity, on health inequality.
Martin McKee, Prof. European Public Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, on public health;
Neena Modi, Prof. Neonatal Medicine at Imperial College, on child and adolescent health, including mental health;
Jan Shortt, General Secretary of the National Pensioners Convention, on care for the elderly;
David Wrigley, Deputy Chair British Medical Association, on primary care;

... a superb reply to what is happening with our beloved NHS. We need it to help us in our struggles to push back against those who are snatching it away from us. All struggles need resolve, solidarity and hope, but they also need information. - From the foreword by Michael Rosen

Contents:

Part 1:

1. How did we get to this? The state of our NHS after a decade of decline;
2. The Decade of 'austerity', 2010-2019;
3. Austerity and the staffing crisis in health and care, 2010-2019;
4. 2020 - Covid crisis worsens an already bad situation;
5: 2021 - Post-Covid crisis: NHS rolling backwards on non-Covid treatment;
6: 2021 - onwards: no end to starvation of resources Inadequate spending review;
7: The growing costs of privatisation;
8: Repairing the damage and restoring the NHS.

Part 2:

Short expert contributions on key issues:

David Wrigley, Deputy Chair British Medical Association, on primary care;
Neena Modi, Prof. Neonatal Medicine at Imperial College, on child and adolescent health, including mental health;
Jan Shortt, General Secretary of the National Pensioners Convention, on care for the elderly;
Michael Mansfield, barrister QC, on holding the government to account;
Martin McKee, Prof. European Public Health, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, on public health;
Sara Gorton, Head of Health UNISON, Privatisation, on pay and conditions of NHS staff;
Colenzo Jarret-Thorpe, National Officer Unite, the Health & Care Bill, on ambulance and other staff;
Rehana Azam, National Secretary Public Services GMB, on the Covid enquiry and outsourced staff;
Roy Lilley, health policy analyst, on management views;
Roger Kline, Research fellow at Middlesex University, on equalities and BAME;
Kevin Courtney, Joint General Secretary, National Education Union, on Covid, education and schools;
Sir Michael Marmot, Prof. of Epidemiology & Public Health, University College London, Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity, on health inequality.

About the Authors:

Dr John Lister has been a health journalist for 38 years, Editor of Health Campaigns Together and The Lowdown, a founder member of Keep Our NHS Public, a public speaker, and the author of books on the NHS and global health policy;

Dr Jacky Davis is a consultant radiologist in north London. She is a founder member of the Keep Our NHS Public campaign, a member of the BMA UK Council and recently sat on the panel of the People's Covid Inquiry. She is co-author of NHS SOS and NHS For Sale.