Cameron's NHS guarantees are doublespeak warns UNISON 07/06/2011

"The public should not be fooled by Cameron's doublespeak on the NHS. Beneath Cameron's warm words, the same old dangers remain", warned Dave Prentis, General Secretary of UNISON, the UK's largest union, today (7 June). He added:

"How can people trust a Government when it says one thing but does another? It ditched its key manifesto pledge of no more top down NHS re-organisations within weeks of the election, and is pushing ahead with the controversial Health and Social Care Bill.

"The government's so-called "guarantees" are worthless. No amount of fiddling with the Health and Social Care Bill will change the fact that it will undermine all 5 pledges made by Cameron today.

"The NHS has never stood still, it has always been innovative and willing to change. The fact remains that this Bill is deeply damaging. The Government is pro-privatisation and it will pave the way towards a US-style private system. Profit driven private health companies are ready and waiting to come in and take over NHS services in the same way that they have raided the care sector."

The union has exposed the Government's hypocrisy in demanding £20bn in efficiency savings that is leading to widespread cuts across the NHS. Cameron's pledge to increase spending on the NHS does not hold water - health economist Prof John Appleby of the King's Fund says that "by 2014-15 the amount of money the NHS has to spend in real terms will have gone down by 0.9%". Trusts are already struggling to cope with the financial demands of an ageing population coupled with more expensive treatments.