A patient led movement for the NHS

We are currently living through unprecedented times. Many people in the UK and around the world have already lost their lives to COVID19 and sadly many more will. We still don’t know exactly how or when this pandemic will end. But at the heart of the crisis is the NHS. As a country we could not be prouder of our NHS, and its valiant staff, risking their lives to care for us.

NHS staff are at huge risk from the coronavirus - we want to support them as much as we can

This is the biggest challenge in the NHS’ history. The staff - nurses and doctors, cleaners and caterers - that keep it moving are under strain like never before. Some have already lost their lives to the virus. The NHS will never be the same again.

Just Treatment was formed to defend NHS patients and the NHS itself in the face of decisions by pharmaceutical companies that put profits before our health. With little drug company investment in treatments and vaccines for the coronavirus, we’re dangerously underprepared for the crisis we’re facing. We also don’t have any guarantees that the treatments, when they come, will be affordable to all who need them.

Peter Piot, head of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, previously declared the entire research and development system for producing vaccines and medication as “not fit for purpose” for epidemics. Coronavirus has highlighted how much work there is to do to win a pharmaceutical system that develops the medicines we need in a way that ensures everyone can access them. 

Anne is leading a new campaign by NHS patients for NHS staff

But the damage being done to people’s health due to the prioritisation of profit over people isn’t isolated to the relationship between pharma and the NHS, and has become systematic in the way that we put NHS services out to tender, giving private companies access to the NHS. As NHS budgets and services have been cut over the last ten years, private firms have been able to take billions out of the NHS, almost doubling their size in four years. Meanwhile there’s a nationwide shortage of nurses and doctors - with  over 100,000 positions unfilled, waiting times for NHS services are at record highs and public satisfaction with the NHS is plummeting.

Just Treatment’s patient leaders and staff all agreed that we can’t sit by and watch the NHS crumble due to underfunding and privatisation. So together we are going to start organising, not just on the impact of big pharma on the NHS, but also with and for patients who have been detrimentally affected by situations where profit and politics were put before patients and the NHS.

We are going to start with the challenge of Coronavirus. There is a lot to do. We’ll be working on campaigns to ensure NHS staff have the correct personal protective equipment and access to testing to keep them and patients safe, the worsening of the mental health crisis and making sure that any vaccine is affordable and accessible for everyone. If you or your family members have been affected by COVID19 and you want to get involved email us: hello@justtreatment.org

Everything we do is, and always will be, centred on fighting for patients to receive the best treatment and care possible whilst standing up for the core principles of a fully publicly funded and run NHS that meets the needs of everyone, is free at the point of use, and is based on clinical need, not your ability to pay.

The NHS has always looked after us, now it’s our turn to look after the NHS. Just Treatment wants to be part of the change that makes the NHS better than it’s ever been, but to do this, we need your help. So sign up to Anne’s PPE petition - get involved in the fight for the future of the NHS. We can’t do this work without you.