By Andrea Campbell
Socialist Organiser1983 1983-07-14Read it in the scan (PDF), scan page 3 →
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ficed for the wealth of eged few.
London is the battleground in the war to save the NHS. The fights we have already seen -Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Hounslow, St. Benedicts, will look small compared to what lies ahead.
This year under the continuing of the Resources Allocation Working • Party (RAWP) formulas London will lose £33 million to the green belt areas. In a service already cut to the bone the Tory way to 'save' is by closures and job losses.
Throughout the general election campaign we heard the nauseating statements from the Tories that they had spent more on the NHS than the previous Labour government, and that growth money was available and would continue to be available. This is nothing but lies.
Of course they spent more money on the NHS. But that is because the existing services cost more to provide with inflation. The NHS has not grown under the Tories and everyone knows that.
This year districts have been given between ½ and 2% "growth money" by the government. But there will be no growth - only decline. The cash limits which Health Authorities are told they must adhere to (or be surcharged, disbanded and possibly jailed) are based on an inflation rate of only 5.6%. If inflation runs higher no extra money is made available. That is one way of using the so called growth money.
The second stage of the growth myth lies in the fact that just to maintain services it is essential to increase budgets by 1% annually to cater for the ageing population and by another 2% (again only to maintain services) for the increasing cost of technology.
Shrinking
Given that London's inner city areas have rapidly growing ageing populations and also have most of the top teaching hospitals (not funded separately) specialising in high technology the growth is rapidly stunted giving a shrinking and dwarfed service.
Although there has been the closure in 1980 of one teaching hospital in central London (St. George's, Hyde Park Corner) the rest have been spared the axe - and no one would argue