We get sick, they get rich: how to resist health profiteering

On Monday 9th October, Just Treatment ran a session called ‘We get sick, they get rich: how to resist health profiteering’ as part of The World Transformed 2023. The event brought together a fantastic panel of speakers with a room of around 40 participants to discuss the threats our health service is facing from corporatisation, and what we can do as patients and health workers to fight back against them. This is a brief report of some of the key themes and ideas explored in the session.

We were delighted to be joined by:

  • Johnbosco Nwogbo - lead campaigner at public ownership campaign group We Own It, overseeing their NHS campaigns

  • Dr Andrew Meyerson - an NHS A&E doctor and public health advocate who campaigns with the SOSNHS coalition

  • Aliya Yule - Access to Healthcare Organiser at Migrants Organise

  • Gayle Pledger - parent of a child with cystic fibrosis, a leading campaigner for the rights of people with cystic fibrosis, joint founder of the global grassroots group Vertex Save Us and senior organiser with Just Treatment

The session was chaired by Just Treatment’s Head of Organising & Campaigns Emma Hughes.

The opening speeches from the panel were focused on some of the key threats facing patients and our health service, alongside successful examples of organising to resist them.

Johnbosco reflected on the increasing role of private healthcare companies in the NHS, and shared insights from We Own It’s inspiring and impactful campaign to oppose American company Centene taking over GP practices. Andrew reflected on the recent historic wave of strike action across the NHS sector and the power that health workers and patients standing in solidarity with one another holds. Aliya shared the powerful story of Simba, who for years was unjustly denied his refugee status and had to fight against an NHS bill of over £100,000 for lifesaving care - with the support of Migrants Organise, he won. Finally, Gayle shared her inspiring story of successfully fighting for access to lifesaving cystic fibrosis treatment for her daughter here in the UK, and how a global network of CF patients and families is now taking this struggle global.

We then opened the conversation up to the floor. We asked participants to discuss between them ideas for useful strategies, tactics and issues for our movement to resist health profiteering, encouraging people to draw from their own personal experiences. There were loads of fantastic ideas that were fed back, including:

  • Calling on NHS doctors to not take on private work in an effort to undermine and disrupt the increasing hold of the private sector

  • Facilitating collaboration between health unions and other public service unions to build campaigns that go beyond issues of sector-specific pay

  • Fostering more coordination between different healthcare unions to counter silos between different health workers

  • Monitoring and exposing failing GP surgeries that are run by private companies - e.g in Liverpool patients collectively reported failing surgeries run by private companies to Healthwatch

  • Mobilising patients with powerful stories of the NHS crisis to confront and challenge politicians of all parties on NHS policy during the General Election

  • Shifting the position of health unions so that they actively campaign around privatisation

  • Targeting visible campaigns at individual members of the new Integrated Care Boards so that they feel direct pressure in communities

These ideas and suggestions will be used to inform our NHS campaigns going forward, especially in relation to the forthcoming General Election in 2024.

A big thanks to everyone who came along to the session and contributed to the discussions - it’s through coming together as NHS patients and staff, and sharing ideas and strategies like this, that we can and will build a powerful movement for health justice! Here’s a clip of the closing reflections from our panel 👇

Hope Worsdale