Agenda item

Health and Social Care Investment

15.1

It was moved by Councillor John Booker, seconded by Councillor Jack Clarkson, that this Council:-

(a)      notes that the medical profession takes an oath," First do no harm", and believes that it is a pity that the Secretary of State for Health, the Rt. Hon. Jeremy Hunt MP, and the Conservative Party don't take the same oath before they implement their policies in relation to the NHS;

(b)      also believes that Great Britain's beloved NHS, our most important institution, founded over sixty years ago, a real victory for the citizens of our country, is itself in need of emergency care;

(c)      further believes that our ageing population, the worrying numbers of people suffering chronic, long-term conditions, and the population explosion, are bringing the NHS closer to the abyss;

(d)      notes that the NHS needs an investment of at least £13 billion over the next five years, and believes that taxes must rise in order to meet this cost; that we need up to 20,000 more nurses, 3,000 more midwives, and 10,000 more GPs, and that in order to assist with this recruitment we could waive university tuition fees for new medical students who commit to working in Great Britain for a period of time; that taking care of taxpayers’ money must be a priority, making sure it is spent on front line patient care; and that the long term practice of spending as much on consultants fees as we do on the purchase of life saving drugs most stop;

(e)      expresses frustration over the Coalition Government’s wasted billions on a top-down reorganisation of the NHS, and over the drastic cuts to the social care budget, that now results in elderly people remaining in hospital longer than they need to;

(f)       regrets the real problem of so-called "health tourism", noting that, every year, the NHS spends approximately £2 billion treating those ineligible for free care, and that there is already a shortage of emergency medical consultants in our Accident and Emergency departments, and that patients who cannot get a GP appointment often turn up at A&E instead;

(g)      expresses concern over the spectre of the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP), this proposed EU/USA free trade agreement that is being negotiated secretively, which may force us to put many of our public services up for sale to US companies, thereby allowing the possibility of large parts of the NHS being privatised, and believes that all political parties and all citizens of Great Britain must stand together as one in defiance of this potentially disastrous event;

(h)      recognises that, according to Age UK, 900,000 older people between the ages of 65 and 89 have social care needs that are not met, and notes that residential care, nursing care, home care, day care and equipment budgets have been cut and that these cuts impact on the NHS, with one million hospital bed days being lost every year when patients cannot be discharged because there is no after-care service available to them, and believes that we need a fully integrated health and social care service; and

(i)       believes that the way we look after the sick, the vulnerable and the elderly is a direct mark of how civilised and caring we are as a society, and that collecting the right amount of tax from multi-national companies and wealthy individuals must be a priority, and our fixation with foreign wars and doomsday weapons must stop; and further believes that life is more important than death, and we need a policy of welfare not warfare.

15.2

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Mary Lea, seconded by Councillor Ian Saunders, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of all the words after the words “That this Council” and the addition of the following words:-

(a)       recalls that it was the Labour Party that founded the NHS, and further recalls the last Labour Government’s impressive record on health, including record levels of investment, a huge increase in overall satisfaction with the NHS, and significant reductions in waiting lists and waiting times;

(b)       is concerned with the current state of the NHS – public dissatisfaction up and waiting times up, and staff morale down, and believes the NHS is not safe in this Government’s hands;

(c)       is saddened that the NHS is in the midst of the longest and deepest squeeze on its finances in a generation, and believes that with demand rising, the NHS must be funded and staffed properly;

(d)       condemns comments made in 2014 by Paul Nuttall, Deputy Leader of UKIP: "I would like to congratulate the coalition government for bringing a whiff of privatisation into the beleaguered National Health Service";

(e)       sends its support to junior doctors in their fight for adequate pay and conditions and urges the Government to return to the negotiating table;

(f)        notes the conclusion of a 2015 London School of Economics research paper examining the record of the Coalition Government on social care - that “spending cuts imposed by the Coalition intensified the pressure on social services from 2010 onwards”;

(g)       notes that overall spending on social care fell by 13% over the Coalition’s five years in office, during which time the number of people aged 65 and over increased by 10%;

(h)       further notes the number of people receiving publicly-commissioned adult social care services fell by one quarter between 2009/10 and 2013/14, from 1.7 million to below 1.3 million;

(i)        is concerned that record numbers of patients are getting stuck in hospital despite being fit to leave, and notes that 160,000 bed days were taken up in hospitals in England during October 2015 by patients who were unable to be discharged safely – the highest number since records began;

(j)        notes that the Administration is working closely with the Clinical Commissioning Group and doing everything it can to mitigate the Government’s failure and tackle the issue of “bed blocking” in Sheffield; and

(k)       calls on the Government to undo the damage done to our health and care systems during the five years of neglect under the Coalition by providing adequate levels of funding to ensure that all those in need of treatment and care receive it.

15.3

On being put to the vote, the amendment was carried.

15.3.1

(NOTE: Councillors Aodan Marken, Robert Murphy and Brian Webster voted for paragraphs (b) to (k) and abstained on paragraph (a) of the amendment, and asked for this to be recorded.)

15.4

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Sue Alston, seconded by Councillor Roger Davison, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of all the words after the words “That this Council” and the addition of the following words:-

(a)       thanks the many migrant NHS workers for their continuing hard work and dedication, which the NHS depends upon to function;

(b)       notes the comments of Stephen Nickell, a senior economist who is on the board of the Office for Budget Responsibility, that the NHS would be "in dire straits" without migrant workers;

(c)       notes that the NHS was founded on 3 core principles:-

(i)      that it meets the needs of everyone;

(ii)      that it be free at the point of delivery; and

(iii)     that it be based on clinical need, not ability to pay; and

(d)       notes that UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, was secretly filmed in 2012 telling UKIP supporters that - “I think we are going to have to move to an insurance-based system of healthcare. Frankly, I would feel more comfortable that my money would return value if I was able to do that through the marketplace of an insurance company, than just us trustingly giving £100bn a year to central government and expecting them to organise the healthcare service from cradle to grave for us.”

15.4.1

(NOTE: With the agreement of the Council and the mover of the amendment (Councillor Sue Alston), the amendment was altered so as to propose the four paragraphs as additional paragraphs to the motion, and not to replace the motion.)

15.5

On being put to the vote, the altered amendment was carried.

15.6

The original Motion, as amended, was then put as a Substantive Motion in the following form and carried:-

RESOLVED: That this Council:-

(a)      recalls that it was the Labour Party that founded the NHS, and further recalls the last Labour Government’s impressive record on health, including record levels of investment, a huge increase in overall satisfaction with the NHS, and significant reductions in waiting lists and waiting times;

(b)      is concerned with the current state of the NHS – public dissatisfaction up and waiting times up, and staff morale down, and believes the NHS is not safe in this Government’s hands;

(c)      is saddened that the NHS is in the midst of the longest and deepest squeeze on its finances in a generation, and believes that with demand rising, the NHS must be funded and staffed properly;

(d)      condemns comments made in 2014 by Paul Nuttall, Deputy Leader of UKIP: "I would like to congratulate the coalition government for bringing a whiff of privatisation into the beleaguered National Health Service";

(e)      sends its support to junior doctors in their fight for adequate pay and conditions and urges the Government to return to the negotiating table;

(f)       notes the conclusion of a 2015 London School of Economics research paper examining the record of the Coalition Government on social care - that “spending cuts imposed by the Coalition intensified the pressure on social services from 2010 onwards”;

(g)      notes that overall spending on social care fell by 13% over the Coalition’s five years in office, during which time the number of people aged 65 and over increased by 10%;

(h)      further notes the number of people receiving publicly-commissioned adult social care services fell by one quarter between 2009/10 and 2013/14, from 1.7 million to below 1.3 million;

(i)       is concerned that record numbers of patients are getting stuck in hospital despite being fit to leave, and notes that 160,000 bed days were taken up in hospitals in England during October 2015 by patients who were unable to be discharged safely – the highest number since records began;

(j)       notes that the Administration is working closely with the Clinical Commissioning Group and doing everything it can to mitigate the Government’s failure and tackle the issue of “bed blocking” in Sheffield;

(k)      calls on the Government to undo the damage done to our health and care systems during the five years of neglect under the Coalition by providing adequate levels of funding to ensure that all those in need of treatment and care receive it;

(l)       thanks the many migrant NHS workers for their continuing hard work and dedication, which the NHS depends upon to function;

(m)     notes the comments of Stephen Nickell, a senior economist who is on the board of the Office for Budget Responsibility, that the NHS would be "in dire straits" without migrant workers;

(n)      notes that the NHS was founded on 3 core principles:-

(i)       that it meets the needs of everyone;

(ii)      that it be free at the point of delivery; and

(iii)      that it be based on clinical need, not ability to pay; and

(o)      notes that UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, was secretly filmed in 2012 telling UKIP supporters that - “I think we are going to have to move to an insurance-based system of healthcare. Frankly, I would feel more comfortable that my money would return value if I was able to do that through the marketplace of an insurance company, than just us trustingly giving £100bn a year to central government and expecting them to organise the healthcare service from cradle to grave for us.”

15.6.1

(NOTE: Councillors Aodan Marken, Robert Murphy and Brian Webster voted for paragraphs (b) to (o) and abstained on paragraph (a) of the Substantive Motion, and asked for this to be recorded.)