Bringing it home better than any politician - Harry's story

My husband died under the Tory control of the NHS. He was found once crawling across the floor of the hospital ward trying to get to the toilet because the nurses would not come and help him. Needless to say, he did not make it.
We did not ask the nurses who they voted for, just got him out of there as fast as possible, then looked after him at home. The trust that that hospital is in has to get rid of 350 staff before the next election to balance the books.
Harry did not vote in this country. For most of his working life he lived in Canada, which is where his children are. Are Canadian Labour and British Labour the same? I do not know.

It is a bloated, beaurocratic system that does need taming - I do agree with that.

The sadness of mixing politics with the NHS is the patient suffers because of political meddling

And that. I do think the NHS needs someone to answer to but it should be a completely independent body with nothing to gain professionally or financially (ex- or retired doctors/nurses possibly?).

Harry has said he is a life long Labour Party voter so why would he go to a Tory conference.

My father was 94 when he died last year and he would have had the confidence to stand in front of people and discuss anything.

He would have said similar things to Harry but I know he would have had a different slant on things.

He would have focussed on the way the NHS had evolved during his lifetime and marvelled at the progress.

He would agree that the NHS is not the domain of, nor being saved by Labour having watched his wife die during Labours governance and he would talk of the excellent care he received under Conservative governance of the NHS.

What he would not have done is say that any political party is better than another because he was a realist that accepted that bad things happen and it is not as easy to fix by having one political party in charge. If that was the case when Labour were in governance the NHS would have been without any problems, think Staffs etc.

The NHS cannot be ruled by politicians. It has to look in on itself and take the measures that are failing the system by the scruff of the neck and get rid of bad practices that continue year on whom ever is the government. It is a bloated, beaurocratic system that does need taming but I don't see any party telling the truth on that because the NHS is a cash cow when it comes to getting votes and party politics trumps honesty.

The sadness of mixing politics with the NHS is the patient suffers because of political meddling and money being thrown at it to uphold the party vote. All that has gave rise to is the NHS has a let out clause to be run both inefficiently and nobody dared to challenge the nursing care for fear of upsetting the profession.

The thing is, penguin, that the NHA has candidates standing in quite a few constituencies, so if they can get some MPs, they can actually try to hold the Labour party to account.
Many of the NHA candidates are connected to the NHS, and standing against important Tories. Clive Peedell is an oncologist in Middlesborough. He comes from Cameron's constituency and has family there still, so is standing against him. The doctor who stopped Hunt from closing the London hospital is standing against him. So there are some quite well-known people standing up for the NHS.
Somehow, I do not think the Labour party would dare do what Cameron did the last time. The Tories are not going to save the NHS from privatisation, so who will?
Is there anyone who thinks the NHS is better now than it was when Lansley took over?

Thank you for your post durhamjen, it is appreciated - I was wondering why what I had said had upset you so much (as I was the only one who said they had snivelled).

I have looked at your link and can't disagree with any of that. I had no idea what PFIs are (looked it up and still not that much the wiser) but one bit I did read that puzzles me was: 'Last year the NHS underspent its budget by £900m, returning much of it to the Treasury.' So what happened to that money?

I would like to say I understand all of this but, sadly, I don't. I do know that putting any area into the private domain will, naturally, bring in an eagle-eye on profits that could overshadow the care given.

I do not have a strong attachment to the Labour party, Gracesgran.
Haven't voted for them since Tony Blair came on the scene.

I know Harry isn't the Labour party, because I have bought and read his book. However, at the next election, it is going to be either the Labour party or the Tories in power. Like Harry, I think the most important area we have to consider is the NHS and how we are going to fund it and stop it being privatised.
By the way, his book is not just about the NHS. He is also quite scathing about the amount of poverty he sees now. He lived in Canada for most of his life after he married his German wife, so he sees this country from an outsider's point of view.

jen I've just read the NHA link, is it likely the Labour Party will adopt this?
Something, goodness knows what, has to be done but I'm not sure the NHS can go back to anything like it first was. Too many people, expectations, too much has changed.
Worrying.

What's the point of saying about Harry making you cry, and then just criticising the Labour party?

That statement is just so illogical durhamjen Harry is not the Labour Party and the Labour Party is not Harry.

It is obvious that you has a strong attachment to the Labour party but no party has done everything or nothing good.

Sorry, Holly, I did not mean you in particular. I did not have anyone in mind when I said that. I agree with you about his past becoming our future. His past is my past. My grandfather died because my grandmother could not afford his medication, so my mother used to tell us. She was a nurse before the NHS, so our family know what the problems were then.
Is there anyone who would disagree with this action plan from the NHA?
nhap.org/our-nhs-checklist-for-labour/

What's the point of saying about Harry making you cry

Well, excuse me for sharing the emotional impact Harry's words had on me.

and then just criticising the Labour party?

I didn't.

This is one of the more important paragraphs in his speech.

For me, it was when he said that unless things change, his past would become our future - that is frightening to think of (but sadly, seems to already be in motion).

Absolutely agree POGS.

It does not matter who did what to the NHS previously. What matters is who is going to save it now, for Harry and all who agree with him.

What's the point of saying about Harry making you cry, and then just criticising the Labour party?

If the TTIP gets passed it will not matter anyway. Cameron's cronies will take over the NHS and privatise it. Getting upset and agreeing with Harry will not matter then.
If you cannot trust Labour or Tory with the NHS, vote Green or NHA if you can. At least they want to try to stop it being privatised.

I'd be surprised if Harry has been invited to the Tory conference, but they are the ones who should listen.

We have had some good threads over a period of time, if I remember correctly including at the time of the Francis Report.

Harry had a story to be told, one of the era. I would say that there are many men and women, probably our own grand parents and mum and dads who have reached his age could tell similar stories of health, housing, work life, starvation, some of us would have heard them first hand, if not perhaps you were lucky.

I had seen Harry giving an interview on one of the news stations a few weeks ago and it would be silly to not acknowledge the sadness of his early life and those who were living at that time. He is a good reminder of how the NHS is a wonderful institution and we are all lucky to live in a country which has the opportunity of free health care.

But. To me his tale has little to do with the NHS of this era. It is a reminder of how bad life was without it but the decades of progress made in the provision of, the huge gains in medical knowledge over medication, surgery, transplants, plastic surgery, child birth etc. etc. etc. were unheard of in the days Harry tells of. The real story of the NHS belongs to what is happening today and not from decades ago.

I have a personal issue with Andy Burnham as some may remember, I am certainly no fan of him or his time in the Labour government. I acknowledge that the NHS was introduced by Labour and was a marvellous act but that's as far as the connection goes.

Harry made an excellent speech but I just go one step further and remind myself that whilst Labour founded the NHS it was not then and is not now a domain of Labour. In it's infancy the NHS, like today, will have been serviced by good people from all political persuasions , all classes and personal wealth, we all pay into it don't we.

If I genuinely thought that Labour was the 'saviour' of the NHS I would say so but I'm afraid I just don't see anything other than a lot of hypocrisy to be honest and using the NHS as a scare tactic, well, I won't say what I feel about that.

But the truth came out anyway, as it should. Thanks, ppb and anya.

The Labour Party tried to cover up the truth of what was happening at Mid Staffs for many years bags and blocked all attempts at holding a public inquiry.

If one wants to get a clear picture of what exactly was going on under the stewardship of Labour health secretaries, Volume Two of the Francis Report, chapter 19 is essential reading. It details a catalogue of errors made, letters warning of the awful situation at Mid-Staffordshire that were never read by senior officials, or simply passed across a desk.

Politicians do not run hospitals, nor should they. Was what happened at Stafford Hospital directly the fault of politicians or of the health authority and some of the people working at the hospital? Hospital and health authority workers are not usually politicians, are they?

I'm asking for information because I'm a little puzzled as to why politicians are being blamed in this instance.

Other NHS hospitals were run well at the same time.

Remember Stafford Hospital? All these hundreds of preventable deaths that happened under Labour's watch.

Pressed send but left out Labour's disastrous years of running the NHS are too recent for me personally to automatically think they are now ready and able to be trusted.

True jen but the NHS saviour is no longer a clear straightforward choice between Labour or Conservatives. Thirteen years in government and Labour really messed the NHS up and often tried to hide when things were going dreadfully wrong. PFI's may have been introduced by the Conservatives but Labour embraced them for both the NHS and Education. Harry is a marvellous orator but the way the Labour Party have used him for their own means is IMHO quite shameful. But I don't know who, what will save the NHS.

As I stand here today, my heart is with all of those people from my generation who didn’t make it past childhood, didn’t get an education, grow as individuals, marry, raise a family and enjoy the fruits of retirement because they died needlessly and too early in another era of austerity, But my heart is also with the people of the present, who, because of welfare cuts and austerity measures, are struggling once more to make ends meet, and whose futures I fear for. -

This is one of the more important paragraphs in his speech.

It does not matter who did what to the NHS previously. What matters is who is going to save it now, for Harry and all who agree with him.

I don't see any of the parties through rose coloured glasses Dangran and can see the faults although I may have more great sympathy for some of the principles they have. My criticism was of the presentation of all the parties. I would also agree with Hollydaze that any problems that we have, in this case the decline of the NHS, are rarely down to one party.

It is quite a presumption to infer that, because I criticised the presentation and lack of grass roots influence of all the parties that I was just sighing and saying there was nothing to be done. I have, in the past, belonged to a political party and, as a member, worked hard for it. I would do the same again if I felt the present construction of our parties and government stood for the democracy I believe in.

I'm sorry to see the 'they're all the same' mantra trotted out on this theme.

It is warranted - the NHS didn't start to decline once the Tories got in, it has been declining for years.