Adding insult to injury

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TO add insult to the injury of the looming sell-out on NHS pay, the bosses' paper the Financial Times has organised a conference on November 18-19 on 'Private Health Care in the 1980's' The conference has little to do with health care, but a lot to do with profits. To quote from the blurb by the FT's Conference Director, Martin Brooks, "The Conference will highlight current developments in private health insurance and will review business opportunities in the private health care sector...

Fee And it is not a conference for the likes of you and me, but for senior management, members of the medical profession in the private and public sector, executives, the City and investment community, and suppliers of equipment and ancillary services -all those who can afford the conference fee of £379.50!

Yes, that's right, 1 haven't made a mistake.

This fee for a two day conference is mor e than an average health worker's monthly earnings!

Value

Still I suppose the delegates will be getting value for money, as the fee includes cocktails and lunches as well as speakers from BUPA, Private patients Plan, NEL Permanent Health Insurance Ltd. and a number of other private health insurance companies.

Others with a vested interest in privatisation will also be there, such as Crothall & Co. Ltd., a well known private contractor for NHS ancillary services.

The medical profession is represented by David Bolt from the British Medical Association, who is not only one of the conference chairmen but also a speaker giving the BMA's viewpoint, presumably on how. good privatisation will be for his profession.

But I suppose the speaker that the delegates JOHN HARRIS will really want to hear is Norman Fowler (that well known 'flexible' Secretary of State). Fowler will open the conference with the Government's view of private medicine - i.e. the Tories' stamp of approval for privatisation of the health service, to sCrew workers out of their hard earned pay and make even fatter profits for the Directors of BUPA and their like.

The FT's organisers have laid on some light relief in the form of Frank Dobson, MP, the chairman of NHS Unlimited, to put the case against privatisation.

Come off it, Frank, you can't really think that there's any value in speaking to this conference!

You won't be heard above the sound of clinking cocktail: glasses and crashing cash registers!

What should SO supporters do about this conference? It seems to me that we ought to go and demonstrate that we won't let the Tories and their big business friends destroy our health service by privatisation. There should be a mass demonstration outside this conference on November 18 and 19, linking up privatisation, cuts and the pay dispute.

The conference starts at 9.00 am on Thursday 18th and delegates will be collecting their conference documents from 8.00 am, at the Inter-Continental Hotel, 1, Hamilt on Place, Lendon W1. (off Picadilly, between Hyde Park Corner and Green Park)

Note: SERTUC Health Services Committee and the TUC Health Services Committee have both been approached to organise this demonstration. However, it is highly unlikely that they will do this. We will have to organise the demonstration ourselves.

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