The Progressive Economy Forum is today publishing a short essay by economist Guy Standing on how the left can redefine its defence of the National Health Service – treating it not merely as a service provider for the unwell but a “socail commons” for the whole of society.
Guy argues that successive governments, both New Labour and Conservative-led, have expropriated the wealth of the NHS for private profits, leaving it the health service the victim of “encroachment, commodification, privatisation, neglect”. But by focusing only on the NHS’ role as a provider of health services, free at the point of delivery, the left has found itself on shaky ground in warding off privatisation under the guise of expanded funding. Instead, he argues, we should treat the NHS as a one of our social commons, reasserting our ancient rights to the common wealth of society.
Provocative and timely, Guy’s paper is available for download below.
