been implemented, Britain's hospitals and GP surgeries would be under less pressure today.
A serious health policy would begin by injecting an extra £1 billion to stabilise the NHS and prevent further decline, while steps were taken to measure the real levels of need for various forms of health care.
This should include treating the 1 million plus people. currently on waiting lists, and the countless thousands waiting for outpatient appointments to put them on waiting lists.
SORN
Sensible, affordable, popular: so why won't Labour argue for a socialist health policy?
It should also include the resourcing of community-based care for the frail elderly standards. and people with mental illA crash programme to treat all those waiting should be prepared. Other health services around the world function without waiting lists: a socialist system should do the same in Britain.
A proper costing of these services and the resources needed to provide them should run alongside an in- right to treatment. ventory of the hospitals and other building stock currently held by the NHS, to draw up GPs. Of course money alone won't solve everything that's wrong with today's NHS. But wilnoul extra money no amount of structural reform will put things right. say £2-3 billion - would get the system rolling and wipe out the waiting list. A smaller annual increase in spending would enable a much higher level of service to be susan action plan for work to tained. bring them up to modern not prohibitive. They would All of these items can be leave British health services costed: and of course the work still receiving a smaller share of restoring the fabric and run- of national wealth than those ning of our NHS would create in many other advanced counthousands of useful jobs tries. across the whole country.
With plans established to could actually be recouped by meet waiting lists, and hospi- scrapping the bureaucratic tals equipped to deal with monstrosity of the NHS interdaily pressures, the way nal market. would be opened up to give It all makes perfect sense. patients for the first time a It's affordable. It's popular.
This type of properly-re- front bench campaign for a sourced, comprehensive socialist health policy? health service would rapidly NEW THE NATIONAL Union of Students was brought Hundreds of millions into line with Blairism by its right-wing leadership last week. Labour, which has has the leadership of NUS for over a decade, won the So why won't Labour's NUS conference to a policy of supporting 'alternalive methods' of funding access to Higher Education. They reject any return to the previous right of students to a living grant and housing benefit.
This is a great leap backwards for the NUS. much applauded by the party leadership and the Guardian.
Many Labour Student leaders lavour the introductionof a Graduate Tax. This would further limit the access working people have to Higher Education and turn students away from 'non-vocational