Motion no: 4
That this conference reasserts its support for a wholly publicly-owned NHS providing locally- accessible healthcare to all, free at the point of delivery and funded adequately through general and progressive taxation – that is
for an NHS based on its foundational, 1948 Bevin principles; and following the lead of health campaigners in Britain, including the Labour party, conference calls on the incoming Northern Ireland Committee to bring forward a campaign demanding a NHS Reinstatement Bill for Northern Ireland that will seek to legislate an end to privatisation, healthcare rationing and the internal market.
That this conference asserts its rejection of current Department of Health policies: the Donaldson review, the Bengoa report and Health and Well-being 2026, which provide a framework to advance healthcare rationing, privatisation and outsourcing; and expresses its solidarity with those campaigning against the results of these policies – one example of which being the recent threat to close all but three or four stroke units in Northern Ireland, potentially leaving communities in rural and peripheral areas more than an hour and a half drive away from life-saving treatment.
Amendment
Amendment: UNISON/CSP
After wholly publically-owned, delete ''NHS'' and replace with ''health and social care system.''
After ''locally-accessible'' delete ''healthcare'' and replace with ''health and social care services.''
After ''free at the point of delivery'' insert ''universal, publically provided.''
Delete all after ''Bevin principles'' and insert:
Conference calls on the Health Committee of the Northern Ireland Committee of Congress to explore all avenues to end privatisation, healthcare rationing, the internal market and the commissioner/provider split, including possible legislative change drawing on the experience of trade unionists in Britain.
Conference further calls on the Health Committee of the Northern Ireland Committee of Congress to continue to take forward all campaigns to protect a health and social care service based on the core principles of ensuring a publically-funded, publically-provided, universal, free at the point of delivery service, including in any and all campaigns relating the current 'transformation' being led by the Department of Health in Northern Ireland following from the Bengoa report and Health and Well-being 2026.
