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Health |
Introduce a "right to health", which makes access to healthcare a basic right for any resident of the UK. The Government will have a duty to ensure that every resident has access to quality healthcare, independent of their financial circumstances.
In order to support every citizen's basic right to medical care and health services, we will maintain and enhance the NHS, keeping it as a free service available to anyone in the UK.
Politicians cannot be trusted with the NHS. We will make the NHS independent, governed by a constitution created by a citizen-led constitutional convention.
NHS funding will be protected by legislation that binds the Government to committing an amount, decided by the constitutional convention, with increases linked to a measure such as GDP or inflation.
The NHS will not deny care to anyone for any reason, regardless of legal status, economic status, or nationality (for further details, see "Do I Treat This Immigrant?").
Whilst the NHS remains under the full control of the government (subject to change through our NHS independence policy), all "alternative medicine" treatments (and treatments that have otherwise not been proven to work after being subject to rigorous scientific and medical analysis) currently paid for under the NHS will be immediately defunded, and subject to proof that the treatment(s) work. As these treatments currently have no scientific evidence in favour of their efficacy, they should be considered a waste of taxpayer money, given the very real potential that NHS funding is going towards treatments that don't help the patient receiving the treatment.
If the NHS is made independent (as per our policy or otherwise), we will then lobby for this to be the case, but will exert no governmental control over the independent organisation.
A "maternity package" of useful items for newborn babies (similar to the one offered in Finland) will be provided free to charge to mothers who register for NHS antenatal care before the end of the fourth month of pregnancy.
We have a "free at the point of delivery" National Health Service and for good reason - a healthy population is a productive population, and that reaps benefits for all. This however has not yet been extended to an area of our health that influences our ability to eat and drink and that when not maintained adequately can lead to cancer. Care of the mouth and teeth should be brought fully under the National Health Service and free at the point of delivery, sweeping away the often prohibitive costs for the poorest in society and ensuring that our world class health care system continues to beat it's international counterparts in keeping the nation in good health.
Ensure euthanasia is permissible and available for those with conditions causing the individual such pain that they wish to end their own life but cannot do so without assistance. Medical staff and loved ones aiding anyone under such circumstances should not be prosecuted providing clear (and independently witnessed) consent has been given.
An opt-out system will be adopted for organ donation upon death, ensuring that more organs are available for clinical and research purposes.
The organ donation wishes of the deceased will not be permitted to be overridden by family members.
Alcohol misuse is a serious health issue costing around £21 billion per year1, including related crime. Much of this is down to the sale of cheap alcohol products that allow for over-consumption. A Minimum Unit Price (MUP) of 45p will curb dangerous consumption habits whilst having a negligible, if any, impact on responsible drinkers. An estimated economic net benefit in excess of £300m is achievable.
Resulting price increases would largely be restricted to off-trade retailers such as supermarkets and off-licenses and so would not have a large negative impact on the licensed pub trade.
Examples:
- A 3 litre bottle of 4.7% ABV cider can be purchased for as little as £3.99 and contains 14.1 units of alcohol. An MUP of 45p would force this up to at least £8.81 (£6.35 MUP + £1.27 VAT + £1.19 duty).
- A pint of 4% draught beer can be purchased for around £3.212 and contains 2.3 units of alcohol. An MUP of 45p would make the minimum legal price £1.65 (£1.35 MUP + £0.21 VAT + £0.09 duty), well below the current price.
Parking charges in car parks serving NHS facilities will be outlawed for patients or visitors to the facilities. Only in cases where there is a serious, demonstrable abuse of parking by motorists not using the facilities will any regimes be permitted to curb such abuse, but these must never include a parking charge.
Increase awareness and education in attempt to remove the stigma surrounding mental health issues, that should be taken just as seriously as physically health issues.
Whilst the NHS remains under government control, the mental health facilities of the NHS will undergo a massive expansion. A notable issue caused by this lack of facilities is the fact that 'Tavistock and Portman' in London is the only Gender Identity Clinic that deals with Trans children and Trans youth in the entirety of the UK, leading to a massive appointment backlog and form of passive cruelty towards those who are unable to reach London in the first place.
Changing Places toilets should be installed in all large public places in addition to standard accessible toilets. Changing Places enable citizens with more severe disabilities, whose needs are not met by standard accessible toilets, to access such public places with dignity. Such venues would include city centres, shopping centres, hospitals, arenas, and so on.3.
Footnotes
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"Impact Assessment: A Minimum Unit Price for Alcohol", Home Office, Novermber 1 2012: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/157763/ia-minimum-unit-pricing.pdf ↩
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"Average prices for pint of beer across UK revealed", Daily Mirror, August 29, 2013: http://www.mirror.co.uk/money/personal-finance/average-prices-pint-beer-across-2234409 ↩
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"What do we want?", Changing Places campaign: http://www.changing-places.org/the_campaign/what_do_we_want_.aspx ↩