The Green Party launched its manifesto If Not Now, When? on 19 November. It has a section on Restoring the NHS, including:
- increasing funding for the NHS by at least £6 billion per year each year, until 2030 (a 4.5% increase on the 2018/2019 NHS Budget);
- repealing the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and abolishing the internal market;
- creating Health Boards which will enable local authorities to lead a ‘bottom up’ process where services are planned and provided without contracts (these could cover more than one local authority area where there is local support;
- giving stronger powers to Health and Wellbeing Boards to represent the interest of the public in the NHS;
- focusing funding (the amount is not specified) on the construction of new community health centres, bringing health services closer to people’s homes;
- putting mental health on the same footing as mental health, ensuring people can access evidence-based mental health therapies within 28 days;
- funding is also focused on reproductive health including free access to birth control and increased access to PrEP to combat HIV.
The section on Tackling discrimination includes:
- improved care for pregnancy and maternity, giving access to the care of a single midwife through prenatal care, birth and the first month of post-natal care
- Increased funding for areas of the NHS heavily relied on by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Intersex, Queer and Asexual (LGBTIQA+) people, including trans healthcare, gender identity clinics, HIV treatment and mental health provision.
Credit
Bren McGowan- Healthwatch Workplace, Nov 2019
Senior Policy Advisor at Healthwatch England
bren.mcgowan@healthwatch.co.uk
