Campaign Resources – Leaflets, Local Press Guides, Fact Sheets

Campaign Briefing 11 March 2016

Fact Sheet – the Myth of the Ageing Population

How many times have you heard it? ‘People are living longer and the NHS can’t afford to look after them.’

Or perhaps – ‘Services won’t cope for much longer because the population is ageing; we have to come up with different solutions.’

These are myths. They are used to cover up the real reason for services being cut, which have nothing to do with the fact that people are living for longer. Our fact sheet explains why. Myth of Ageing fact sheet.

 

Rebuttals to NHS Bill criticisms-1

Fact Sheet – Rebuttals to NHS Bill Criticisms

In all the replies we’ve received from PPCs, there are some common claims: ‘GPs are best placed to commission the healthcare they need’ (so there’s no need to change the law), ‘we need to keep the split between those providing the service and those funding it’ (the purchaser-provider split, because it encourages ‘fair allocation of resources’), etc.

We’ve summarised these in  the Some Common Claims fact sheet, giving the counter-arguments to them. These will help counter the common criticisms about the NHS Bill.

 

FAQs cover

Fact Sheet – Legal points about the legislation

One of the Bill’s ‘architects’, Peter Roderick, was asked some specific legal points about the Bill, such as what legislation it would repeal, and how far it seeks to roll back privatisation, to address some of the more detailed queries and criticisms we’ve come across.
The Q and A Fact Sheet lists these, and his answers.

 

 

 

Fact Sheet – Who is going to pay for all this?

A common concern with a compelling answer. We all will, if the changes we are asking for are not done. Because ‘the market’ is, in fact, more expensive, more divisive, less equal – and is certainly less fair, when it comes to health and the NHS.

The truth, in a nutshell. Don’t be fooled. The market is wrong. Or, at least, the wrong way for the NHS.

The NHS Bill Costs Fact Sheet tells it the way it is.

 

 

 

The campaign briefings below date from prior to the 2016-2017 parliamentary session. They are now out of date, but kept here for reference.

Previous materials from the 2015-2016 parliamentary session

The campaign briefings below date from the 2015-2016 parliamentary session. They are kept here for reference.

Campaign Briefing for 11 March 2016

We are calling on MPs to support the NHS Bill on 11 March 2016.  This briefing answers many of the key questions people ask about the Bill. Including

  • Is the NHS Bill another big reorganisation that the NHS cannot afford?
  • Are the Health & Social Care Act changes that important, the NHS is still free?
  • Isn’t the NHS too big and in need of change? It needs to be broken up and devolved.

 

Find out the answers and read the briefing.

 

Legal Briefing
Legal and Policy Briefing for 11 March 2016

by Professor Allyson Pollock and Peter Roderick, Queen Mary University of London

The National Health Service Bill is intended to restore the founding principles of the NHS in England. These have been eroded over many years, most recently and comprehensively by the Health and Social Care Act 2012. This briefing for MPs provides a legal and policy perspective on the Bill. The authors of this Briefing are the co-authors of the Bill.

Read the Legal and Policy Briefing here.

 

 

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Leaflet – take action on 11 March 2016

In London on 11 March 2016 we will be holding a rally outside the House of Commons between 11am and 1.30pm. Please join us. 

These leaflets are available from Keep our NHS Public.

View the front side of the leaflet.
View the reverse of the leaflet.

 

Model Motion

Could you put forward a motion to your union calling for support for the NHS Bill?

Keep Our NHS Public have drafted a model motion for you to adapt for your needs. (This link takes you to the suggested motion on KONP’s site.)

 

Previous materials from prior to the May 2015 election

Prior to the May 2015 election we also produced leaflets and press resources for campaigners to use. They remain here for reference.

 

 

NHS Bill 2015 Leaflet v3Leaflets

Setting up a stall? Holding a hustings? Persuading the public? If so, we now have the leaflet that you need.

It’s A5 size, and intended as a way to let people know about the campaign, and how they can take action.

 

 

A4 single sheet

A4 single sheet

We’ve also prepared the leaflet text in an A4 single-sheet design for you to download.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Local press image

Tell your local press

 

General advice for local NHS campaigners working with local media.

Why the local press?

Local newspapers and broadcasting are influential and important. Most areas in England are still served by at least one local paper and radio station. All of them are highly sensitive to the need to interest and remain popular with their local audiences. All of them need a constant supply of local stories and comment to survive.

Local MPs are always sensitive to what their local papers and radio stations are saying about how they handle local issues. This becomes particularly noticeable around election time. Since the Campaign relies on local people holding their local candidates in an election to account, getting your views across in the local press is a really effective way of encouraging others to support the Bill before the election and impressing on them the need to approach their candidates to ask about this.

Local Media

But it is also true that many people will be trying to get the attention of their local media around now, for a wide range of reasons that are linked to the election.

So you need to be a bit savvy. The most effective and likely way to get heard by the local press, hence through them, is by letter writing for a local paper, or by phoning in or tweeting to a local radio station programme that encourages members of the public to contact it.

This means writing to your local paper, or ringing in or tweeting your local radio show, can get your comments printed or aired far more easily than would be the case for a national outlet or if you were trying to approach them over a potential story.

Finding the local media

The easiest way to find your local media is simply to Google the area you live in with the word ‘news’. This will give you the websites of your local news organisations. Going on to these should then allow you to find a ‘contact us’ tab, or possibly a dedicated page or section devoted to hearing readers’ or listeners’ views. There are also specialised apps available for smartphones or tablets, eg the ‘Newspapers and Magazines’ app for Apple devices, which will search for local media by area.

Guiding principles

We’ve put together a short guide to writing a letter to the local press, depending on whether you are a concerned member of the public or work for the NHS. We’ve also included some model letters you can use directly if you prefer, where you just need to add your own details and some local information – again, depending on whether you are a concerned member of the public [link – letter to local press general public] or work for the NHS [link – local press letter NHS employee]. But however you decide to go about it, keep the following in mind:

• Keep it short: for a letter, below 250 words (200 ideally). For a radio phone-in, aim to get just one or at most three points across: try for any more and you will either be cut short, or risk losing your train of thought in the few seconds you will have to get the points across.

• Keep it local: the odds are there will be a health story in your locality, or you might well have one yourself. Do these hint at deeper, underlying problems with your local NHS? The local angle gives you the way in, for the local press.

• Keep it relevant: health is such a big subject, for everybody, that it’s easy to lose track of the argument. Which is, quite simply, that the NHS Bill needs to be law or things will get worse, that it’s up to MPs to see that this is done, and it’s up to all of us to impress on all the candidates in the election that we aren’t going to let this go away. There are three points you could start with – relate them to a local health story, and that’s your way in.

• Keep it fast! We really have one chance to get across the message about the Bill. Although it was made an official Bill in Parliament, after May Parliament has no obligation whatsoever to recognise it or take it up for debate: that’s the sovereignty principle at work. But that means that unless enough successful candidates in an election, who go on to be MPs, are approached and know enough of their constituents feel passionately about the NHS Bill, it will simply disappear. And then so will the NHS. Brick by brick. We mustn’t let that happen.

• Keep it going: don’t be disheartened if your carefully crafted masterpiece fails to get printed, or your wait for the phone-in slot doesn’t yield any time on air. There’s a saying in public relations: ‘This will make a good story…unless the bomb goes off’. This reflects the fact that the media always filter, classify and use or discard potential news all the time, and that applies to letters or other comment. If you missed your chance this time, try again. You won’t be judged on how many times you have written or rung in: only on what you are saying at that moment. Seize it.

The Campaign’s Press Officer is Alan Taman. He will be only too pleased to advise you on approaching your local press and how to maximise your chances of success. Ring or e-mail Alan any time: 07870 757 309 and healthjournos@gmail.com