A New Deal for the NHS - what’s the plan?

Over a hundred people joined our recent organising call with US comedian Rob Delaney as we launched a plan for a crowdsourced New Deal for the NHS. Our plan to Listen. Build. Win.  will ensure patients are prioritised over profits and politics.

Right now we’re at the  listening stage. We are listening to the stories of people who have been personally affected by coronavirus up and down the country - in fact we want at least one story from every one of the 650 constituencies in the UK. For too long, policy has been dictated by a select few, often in London. NHS users, like us, are all around the country - and have valuable contributions to make towards the workings of the NHS. 

This is a people powered campaign and  volunteers are already speaking to people  they know that have been affected by coronavirus, seeking their views on how we can respond to the pandemic and protect our NHS. The more of us that get involved, the more conversations we can have, and the more powerful our demands will be.

If you’re up for joining our volunteer community - sign up here. 

These stories will be used to develop a set of demands for the New Deal for the NHS that will shape our response to this pandemic and build an NHS that is fit for all of us for generations to come.

Patients and NHS users have led Just Treatment’s campaigns from the start. That’s how we’ve won. The conversations that are taking place now will ensure that the real life stories of patients will be at the centre of the New Deal for the NHS. Personal stories communicate in ways that policy papers and statistics can’t. They are powerful - they win! And that’s what we need now - hundreds of stories from NHS users that will inform the demands in the New Deal and force change. This will ensure our demands will be linked directly to the experiences of people up and down the country. 

Collectively, we will then campaign to win these demands.

Until now Just Treatment’s campaigns have focussed on access to medicines. We will continue to challenge the unjust practices that allow pharmaceutical companies to profit at the expense of patients, but we understand that the issues facing the NHS are far greater than this. The New Deal for the NHS will ensure a better NHS for all patients - one that works for patients and not for profit.

With every crisis comes an opportunity. But unless we take the opportunity to demand action now, together, then the change that results from this pandemic may not be the change we want to see. This is an opportunity to challenge the policies that have weakened and privatised our NHS over decades and which have allowed pharma companies to demand ever increasing prices for drugs, leaving patients without access. This is our chance to build a patient-led movement that builds resilience at the heart of our NHS and ensures that it’s a healthcare system that is fit for generations to come.

Help us to create lasting change for the NHS by signing up to volunteer here