Paul walker

1. Promoting health and well-being
through socialism
The political arm of the Public Health Movement

2. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
The Socialist Health Association can trace its ideological roots back to 1912 when the State Medical
Service Association was established by a Dr Benjamin Moore, a Liverpool physician; and its
organisational roots back to 1930 when its lineal antecedent, the Socialist Medical Association, was
established by Dr Charles Brook as the direct result of encouragement to emulate other European
countries where there already existed
“organisations of Socialist members of the medical profession”.
The constitution of the new Association was framed with three principal aims:
To work for a Socialised Medical Service both preventive and curative, free and open to all
To secure for the people the highest possible standard of health
To disseminate the principles of socialism within the medical and allied services
And from the start a close relationship with the Labour Party was seen as a sine qua non.

3. 1.OUR MISSION - OR WHAT ARE WE FOR?
To promote health and wellbeing, social justice, and the eradication of
inequalities through the application of socialist principles to society and
government.
This clearly includes the three original aims of the SHA as set out in 1930.
The new ingredient which dominates public health and socialist thinking at
the beginning of the third millennium is the reduction and ultimate
eradication of inequalities.
To achieve this MISSION we believe that we need to be an actively
campaigning organisation as well as one that supports critical debate about
the wide range of issues that comprise health and wellbeing in the third
millennium. We want to make a difference by having influence at the
highest level, that is on the government and on the Labour Party as well as
on other bodies that influence them such as trade unions and on other
socialist societies.

4. 2.OUR CORE VALUES
Underpinning our Mission are three core values :
DEMOCRACY – informed participation with election
not selection
EQUALITY – of opportunity and respect supported
by affirmative action
UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE – meeting the
prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and care needs
of all, publicly provided, free at the point of use and
funded by general taxation.

5. 3. GUIDELINES FOR ACTION
PREVENTION AS WELL AS TREATMENT – investment in prevention of
disease as well as on treatment
WIDER DETERMINANTS AS WELL AS HEALTHCARE – recognition that
the wider determinants such as income, education and employment are as
important in promoting the nation’s health as healthcare
INTERNATIONALISM – recognition of the UK’s international obligations to
developing nations in respect of trade agreements and the importation of
scarce healthcare personnel
SOLIDARITY – working in close collaboration with other like minded bodies
such as trade unions and the other socialist societies
LOCALISM – decision making as near as possible to where it will have
impact and at community level wherever practicable
AN INTEGRATED, WHOLE SYSTEMS APPROACH – health, social care
and wellbeing services provided through partnership working as integrated
packages tailored to the needs of user, not the convenience of providers
COOPERATIVE ENDEAVOUR – a cooperative approach to the running of
public, voluntary and private sector services with worker and user
participation

6. 4. OUR PRIORITY AIMS
It is not possible to espouse every good cause. So we will
concentrate our efforts on those issues which we consider to be
central to the attainment of our mission :
• Reducing inequalities in health particularly for disadvantaged
groups such as the mentally ill; and for vulnerable groups
particularly children
• Local democratic control of the NHS including giving patients
a voice at local and national levels
• Defending and extending the NHS including securing
adequate public funding, and removing all costs to users such
as prescription charges and travel costs
• Promoting healthy lifestyles through the provision of easy to
understand and quality assured information to empower the
public and through countering the influence of anti-health forces
and any other factors which undermine this empowerment.

7. 5. MAKING IT HAPPEN
To achieve these aims we will actively
campaign both in our own right and,
where appropriate, in collaboration
with other like-minded organisations.

8. So, our key planks for evaluating
marketisation policy are fivefold :
• Impact on inequalities
• Integrated care
• Impact on user charges
• Impact on level of “publicly provided”
services
• Impact on total funding available to the
NHS
With impact on inequalities being the most
important.

9. The Keep Our NHS Public ( KOP) Campaign statement
“The NHS stands at a crossroads. For nearly 60 years Britain has enjoyed a National Health Service that strives
to be comprehensive, accessible and high value for money. Now, government reforms threaten both the ethos of
the NHS, and the planned and equitable way in which it delivers care to patients. At the heart of the changes is
the creation of a market that welcomes profit-driven international corporations who answer to shareholders, not
patients. This market will compel hospitals and health professionals, who have traditionally co-operated to deliver
healthcare, to compete with each other and with the private sector. Far from supporting the NHS, the private
sector is in competition with it, and is already draining away resources and staff.
If these reforms continue the nature of the health system will change radically:
•Income and profits will increasingly come before patient needs and clinical considerations.
•Greater inequalities in healthcare will appear, as profitable services and patients attract money at the expense of
unprofitable ones.
•Forced market competition among NHS hospitals and primary care will break up the NHS as a collaborating network
of shared resources and information.
•Even more of the new money allocated to health will be diverted to shareholders and company profits, and wasted on
the huge administrative costs associated with establishing and running a market.
There is no evidence that these reforms will improve the health service. There will be winners and losers, with
some units and even entire hospitals having to close. We are already seeing job losses and bed closures in NHS
hospital. In spite of increased spending on healthcare, and government commitment to patient choice, the end
result of these reforms will undermine the choice that is most important to patients - access to comprehensive,
trustworthy, and local health services.
The situation is grave. The value of the NHS is immense and cannot be mirrored by the private sector. It must be
kept in public hands, serving the interests of all patients and the broader public, not the private healthcare
industry.
We therefore call on organisations, healthcare workers, patients and the public to campaign to protect the NHS
from further privatisation and fragmentation, and to keep our NHS public.
For a detailed explanation of the urgency of the situation, and to find out how you can help, please visit our web
site at www.KeepOurNHSPublic.com.”

10. What you can do:
• Join Keep Our NHS Public
• Get your friends, work colleagues, trade union branch,
pensioners group, community organisation or hospital campaign to
join up, too, and make a donation to kick off a local campaign.
• Set up a local meeting to bring together campaigners to defend
your local services.
• Set up a local branch of Keep Our NHS Public, or campaign
alongside other community groups and campaigners under this
banner
• Get signatures on our petition, lobby local MPs, councillors and
NHS organisations demanding a halt to cuts, privatisation and
commercialisation of health care
• Build a public event - contact us for a list of possible speakers.
• Help us build a movement big enough to force a change. See
our campaign checklist for more information and ideas.
For further details about joining Keep Our NHS Public and how you
can be involved, download our flyer (Acrobat pdf file, 590 KB).