Agenda item

National Health Service

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

(a)       notes the continuing problems within the National Health Service that affects all those who work and who are treated within it;

(b)       recognises that GP’s have had a pay increase of 40%, and have been released from their out of hours contracts, while the rank and file staff within the service are expected to work harder and harder without a pay increase;

(c)        regrets that midwives and nurses are striking for a miserly 1% pay increase, recommended by the independent pay body, which the Coalition Government is refusing to pay;

(d)       further notes that people can wait for up to ten days to see a GP, waiting times for physiotherapy can take up to three months, operations are cancelled on a regular basis, there is low morale across the NHS, plus a deficit of £30 Billion;

(e)       is saddened by a weekly influx of over 5000 people into this country, which puts immense pressure on this service, and believes that however bad it is today, it will be worse tomorrow;

(f)        realises money in this Country is very tight, yet the European Union demands an extra £1.7 billion from the UK tax payers to be paid by December 2014;

(g)       is staggered to note that the Labour Party sides with the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats, to start once again hostilities in the Middle East, depriving much needed monies that could indeed go towards the easing of problems in the NHS;

(h)       wishes for once in this Country we could try ‘welfare not warfare’; and

(i)         confirms its belief that the NHS should always be free at the point of admission, and regrets the campaign of disinformation emanating from the media and main political parties.

Whereupon, it was moved by Councillor Mary Lea, seconded by Councillor Harry Harpham, as an amendment, that the Motion now submitted be amended by the deletion of paragraphs (b) to (i) and the addition of new paragraphs (b) to (g) as follows:-

(b)       believes that under this Government, the NHS is going backwards, as one in four people don’t get to see a GP within a week and over three million people are on the waiting list for treatment;

(c)        supports the policy of the Shadow Secretary of State for Health, the Rt. Hon. Andy Burnham MP, to raise £2.5bn for an NHS Time to Care Fund by ensuring that tax avoiders play by the rules, and asking those at the top to pay more;

(d)       welcomes that this money will be used to ensure the NHS is fit for the 21st Century and will deliver 20,000 more nurses, 3,000 more midwives, 8,000 more GPs and 5,000 extra home care workers by the end of the next Parliament;

(e)       believes it was wrong for the Government to single out NHS staff by refusing to implement the 1% pay increase which was recommended by an Independent Body and is being awarded by the Government to other public sector workers;

(f)        regrets that this Government wasted £3 billion on the unwanted and unnecessary top down reorganisation of the NHS; and

(g)       fully supports the NHS and therefore completely opposes the comments by UKIP’s Deputy Leader, Paul Nuttall MEP, posted on his website, “I would like to congratulate the Coalition Government for bringing a whiff of privatisation into the beleaguered National Health Service”.

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

(Notes: 1. Councillors Jillian Creasy, Robert Murphy, Sarah Jane Smalley and Brian Webster voted for paragraphs (b), (e) and (f) and abstained on paragraphs (c), (d) and (g) of the above Amendment, and asked for this to be recorded.

2. Councillors Pauline Andrews, Jack Clarkson and John Booker voted for paragraphs (b) to (f) and against paragraph (g) of the above Amendment and asked for this to be recorded.)

It was then moved by Councillor Colin Ross, seconded by Councillor Martin Smith, 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 therefor:-

(a)       believes that the NHS should remain free at the point of use;

(b)       recognises the dedication and hard work of staff within the NHS;

(c)        notes that in many parts of the country, the NHS relies on highly skilled and qualified health care professionals recruited from overseas;

(d)       recalls with alarm the words of UKIP’s Deputy Leader, Paul Nuttall MEP, “the very existence of the NHS stifles competition….as long as the NHS is the “sacred cow” of British politics, the longer the British people will suffer with a second rate health service”; and

(e)       welcomes the pre-manifesto commitment made by the Liberal Democrats of “Guaranteeing the NHS budget will rise by at least inflation”.

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

(Notes: 1. Councillors Jillian Creasy, Robert Murphy, Sarah Jane Smalley and Brian Webster voted for paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) and abstained on paragraphs (d) and (e) of the above Amendment, and asked for this to be recorded.

2. Councillors Pauline Andrews, Jack Clarkson and John Booker voted for paragraphs (a) to (d) and against paragraph (e) of the above Amendment and asked for this to be recorded.)

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