Join national KONP
Hackney is one of KONP's 80 local campaign groups of volunteer campaigners. National KONP has a small part time staff team who support our national work and local groups. National KONP relies on subscriptions from thousands of individuals to keep the office and campaign running. It costs only £7.50 low/unwaged or £20 waged for one year to join KONP (extra one-off or regular donations are of course very welcome!) You will receive regular newsletters and can attend national KONP meetings. Please join to support our campaign!  keepournhspublic.com/support-page/#join

The National KONP website carries up to date news and analysis of what's happening to the NHS and how we are campaigning - click here to visit the national website for information.
KONP NHS Staff Voices
As well as local campaign groups (like Hackney KONP), KONP has a national group - NHS Staff Voices - specifically for NHS staff. See their Facebook page here. 
Hackney KONP
We are not meeting in person at the moment  - but are organising virtual meetings via Zoom. 
Meetings are the 4th Tuesday of every month at 6:30pm
Next meeting by Zoom, Tuesday 24th January 2023  6:30pm.
​For invite contact: [email protected]
New campaigners welcome

Hackney KONP 
This is the website for Hackney Keep Our NHS Public (KONP Hackney). We are one of around 80 local NHS campaign groups across England that are affiliated to national KONP. Hackney KONP campaigns on national and local issues and is also part of North East London Save Our NHS (NELSON), an umbrella group bringing together local NHS campaigns from Hackney & City, Tower Hamlets, Newham, Waltham Forest, Barking & Dagenham, Havering and Redbridge, the area covered by North East London Integrated Care System (NELICS). Note: we only report very limited and local information on this Hackney website. For up to date and national coverage, see The Lowdown - an excellent source of NHS analysis, or visit KONP's national website. For details of Hackney KONPs previous campaigns and actions, visit the Archives tab on this website.

St Leonards Hospital:  Lobby Council meeting 6pm 25th January Town Hall steps
St Leonards Hospital houses several community health services. The premises are in very poor condition and the site needs to be redeveloped to provide NHS buildings and facilities that are fit for purpose. As there is no capital funding available for such a redevelopment, it's suggested that part of the site should be sold off for private housing to fund a much smaller NHS site. This would mean loosing the opportunity to develop new NHS services in Hackney co-located on a single site. There are several services - such as mental health care for both older people and young people that are currently provided out of Hackney. Hackney also lacks other services like step-down from hospital. St Leonard's would be an ideal site to develop such services in Hackney. We want Hackney council to campaign strongly with other councils to demand the Government provides capital funding to replace dilapidated buildings and retain St Leonard's and others sites for NHS use. Support our lobby of the council meeting on 25th 
Read Cllr Chris Kennedy's response to a question about St Leonard's here and KONP's press release
Fair Pay for NHS Staff
From nurses to paramedics, ambulance staff and doctors, NHS staff are protesting the massive erosion in pay and conditions over the past 12 years. Lengthy waiting lists, long waiting times, ambulance delays, GP waiting lists, crumbling NHS buildings, huge reductions in numbers of beds all pre-date the current industrial action and point to increasingly desperate working conditions for staff. Government has refused to negotiate on pay and unions are left with no option other than strike action to press their case. Government claims that pay review bodies are 'independent' or that NHS pay increases fuel inflation are lies. KONP supports NHS staff action and demands that government rebuilds our NHS.
https://keepournhspublic.com/campaigns/support-nhs-staff/consultative-ballots-on-nhs-pay-vote-now/keepournhspublic.com/campaigns/support-nhs-staff/consultative-ballots-on-nhs-pay-vote-now/
Support Nurses' demands for decent pay and conditions 
KONP Hackney joins nurses picketing Homerton Hospital demanding decent pay and conditions. Nurses pay has fallen in real terms by 20% since 2010. The nurses training bursary was abolished despite nurses working on wards as a vital part of their training. High vacancy rates mean working conditions for staff are exceptionally hard. The Government's 'independent' pay review body is neither fair nor independent: members are handpicked and their terms of reference tightly constrained by Government (even so, Government has often chosen to ignore recommendations that are inconvenient).
https://www.hackneycitizen.co.uk/2022/12/16/campaigners-homerton-hospital-support-national-nursing-strikes/
https://keepournhspublic.com/the-very-future-of-the-nhs-is-threatened/
https://keepournhspublic.com/petition-rebuild-our-nhs/
Ambulance and paramedic staff strike for decent pay and conditions
December 12th 2022, KONP Hackney members joined the picket line supporting ambulance and paramedic staff 
No Palantir in Our NHS :
Hackney KONP protest against Palantir on Saturday 3rd Sept at the Financial Times festival  

 Palantir is huge and  secretive US spy-tech corporate, front runner to get a huge contract to provide the underlying operating system for almost all  the NHS. Alex Karp, Palantir CEO, was a speaker at this FT Festival. 

Following our protest against Palantir outside the FT Festival we wrote to FT Editor Gillian Tett. The FT then published an article arguing  (unsurprisingly) that our data would be especially safe in the hands of this tech giant - but the article also reports on our action and quotes from our leaflet and letter, so perhaps some FT readers will reach a different conclusion!   More info here.

Sign the ‘No Palantir in our NHS’  petition at https://nopalantir.org.uk
More info on Palantir : https://www.ft.com/content/3f6f24f8-9e5c-42c3-8ae6-bfef5f953524
Health and Care Act 2022
HEALTH AND CARE BILL PASSED: We need urgent local action now to safeguard services

The deeply flawed Health and Care Bill which splits the national health service into 42 regional services, each with its own capped budget, was finally voted through by MPs and Lords, reaching Royal Assent on 28th April so will now become law. 

There is still an opportunity to influence how the law will be interpreted in practice through the local Constitutions which need to be adopted by each Integrated Care Board (ICB). These local constitutions are being developed behind closed doors, although some (not NE London) have been made publicly available for wider comment. 

Hackney KONP has written to the Chair and Chief Executive of the North East London Integrated Care System demanding that the local constitution includes the following. Without this assurance, none of the issues below are guaranteed in the new Act:

  • A commitment written into the ICS constitution that the ICS will maintain a comprehensive health service, free at the point of need, accessible to anyone residing in that area – including homeless people – at the time when they need health care or treatment.
  • ICSs should not include representatives from private sector organisations on any ICS board or committees or any bodies with delegated powers from the ICB.
  • There should be a commitment that NHS providers are the default providers of health services, care and treatment, and that as contracts with private sector companies come up for renewal the default position is that they will be awarded to NHS providers.
  • If any contracts do continue to be awarded to the private sector, there must be vigorous scrutiny to ensure that this is conducted in a transparent and accountable manner.
  • A commitment that anyone who needs emergency or urgent services while present in the ICS’s geographical footprint will receive the necessary treatment, whether or not they are registered with, or permanently reside within, the ICS area.
  • The Integrated Care Board should include a councillor from each local authority covered by the ICS, not just one representative covering all the local authorities in an area.
  • A commitment that the Integrated Care Board must include representatives of professionals from Mental Health, Community Health, Maternity, Primary Care and Public Health, as well as from Acute services.
  • A commitment that Integrated Care Boards, the Integrated Care Partnership body, place-based bodies, committees and sub-committees will include representatives of patients’ groups and of NHS staff trade unions.
  • A commitment that all meetings of Integrated Care Boards, Integrated Care Partnership bodies, place-based bodies, committees and sub-committees will be held in public, papers must be available in advance, and observers – from the public, trade unions, patients’ groups – must be allowed to ask questions and be entitled to written answers to those questions.
  • Before a patient is discharged from hospital, there must be a commitment to ensure that it is safe to do so and that any unpaid carers expected to look after the patient are both willing and capable to do so; the operation of the discharge policy should be regularly audited.
  • The ICS Constitution must specify that nationally agreed pay, terms and conditions, including pensions, as negotiated with the NHS staff unions, will apply to all staff employed by any NHS provider within the ICS area.
  • There must be discussion with NHS staff unions about safe staffing levels and what is needed to ensure they can be implemented.
For more information about the Act and the risks to our health services, see the Keep Our NHS Public website: 

People’s Covid Inquiry Executive Summary document  From: £10.00
Based on extensive research and consultation across civil society and with frontline workers, and compiled by Keep Our NHS Public under the supervision of renowned human rights barrister Michael Mansfield QC, the People’s Covid Inquiry launched its report, Misconduct in Public Office, in December 2021.
The Executive Summary of the People’s Covid Inquiry – including an overview of the evidence to support this central charge of criminal misconduct against key government ministers – is now available as a high-quality 78-page printed booklet.

Download PDF
To order larger batches, please contact Keep Our NHS Public at [email protected].
May 2022 The Government has just reannounced proposals to build 48 new hospitals. This is the same old lies and disinformation. Most of these 'new hospitals' are small scale refurbishments or replacements for crumbling hospital wings. See linked article in The Lowdown 
Government's Sept 2019 hospital building programme is smoke and mirrors
The headlines announcing 40 new hospitals are a mix of projects already in line; capital funding that had been frozen and unfunded future promises. Read KONP analysis here.
Patients Not Passports campaign  
Hackney KONP supports the national campaign against the Government's hostile environment and against charges for migrants. We are horrified that NHS staff may be expected to contact the Home Office to confirm whether people are eligible for NHS care, that many people living in the UK are being denied access to free healthcare, and others are not seeking treatment they are entitled to because of concerns about Home Office action. The hostile environment policy has led to immense hardship and injustice across many sectors, including the NHS, which would collapse without its migrant doctors, nurses and other staff! 
Does the UK spend too much on healthcare?
The government tells us it's becoming too expensive to fund our healthcare. But here is an OECD comparison (using latest figures from November 2017) of how UK spending on health (per head of population, in US$)  compares with some other countries.

How Come We Didn't Know?  
Hackney KONP's NHS privatisation exhibition shown in House of Commons, 13th March 2019, with speakers Eleanor Smith MP (picture), Peter Roderick, co-author of the NHS Bill, and DrTony O'Sullivan, Co-Chair of KONP. (Sadly, the event clashed with Brexit votes, and Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell MP wasn't able to speak). (more: ​see 'Artists' tab).
PFI:   How Come We're still Paying for This?  
Launch of Marion Macalpine & Helen Mercer's photographic exhibition & PFI booklet
at Portcullis House, Parliament. 20th March 2018
John McDonnell, Labour Shadow Chancellor Helen Mercer from People vs PFI
The market in NHS services from New Labour governments to 2017  
Plans to privatise the NHS have been developed over decades and successive governments have worked hand in glove with corporates to achieve this.  Here is a link to information a brief history of privatisation in the NHS.
Govt NHS policy has one aim and one aim only: bring system to its knees so sell-off to friends can be sold as answer
Govt imposing £22 bn 'efficiency savings' (cuts) on NHS on top of £20 bn cuts of past 5 years. 
click above for Twitter link to National Health Action Party
WHAT'S HAPPENING TO OUR NHS?
The government is tearing the NHS apart through funding cuts and privatisation, putting private profits ahead of patients. We urgently need new legislation to restore our NHS.

NHS POLITICAL HISTORY
Click here for an excellent account by Professor Ray Tallis of the development of the NHS and the political attacks that threaten its very existence. (TLS article, September 2016) 

SPENDING ON NHS
Government claims the NHS is 'unaffordable' and 'unsustainable'.  Think-tanks funded by vested interests regularly make proposals for NHS payments - £10 for GP or A&E visits,  £75 'hotel costs' for an overnight hospital stay and so on.  Yet England spends far less on healthcare than France or Germany.  And billions of NHS cash is wasted through costs of the NHS market, PFI schemes and private profit. 

COSTS OF MANAGING A MARKET IN HEALTHCARE
Before the NHS market was introduced, just 5% of the budget went on administration. The introduction of the market meant splitting the NHS into separate 'purchaser' and 'provider' arms and huge additional legal and administrative costs of buying and selling services, tendering and managing contracts. By 2010 administration stood at 14% of the NHS budget.  Since the Health & Social Care Act of 2012 has forced more services to be marketised.   Abolishing the NHS market and returning to pre-market administration cost levels would save between £4.5bn- £10bn every year!  
PRIVATE FINANCE INITIATIVE (PFI)
Billions of NHS funding is squandered on extortionate PFI contracts.  The Department of Health has 118 PFI schemes with a capital value of £11.6bn. But repayments on these schemes will amount to a staggering £79.1bn. PFI repayments are already bankrupting some NHS trusts and the costs are rising steeply. 

PRIVATISATION OF NHS SERVICES
More than £12bn worth of NHS contracts have been awarded to the private sector, siphoning NHS funds into private profits.  The EU-US Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and CETA trade treaties will force all NHS services to be tendered. Sustainability & Transformation Plans will force a huge new wave of privatisation from 2017.

FUTURE OF THE ENGLISH NHS
These policies are wrecking the NHS.  Government is on course to replace our healthcare system with  US-style, hugely expensive, privatised and insurance-based healthcare.  The NHS will remain, but only as a residual and greatly underfunded service of last resort, and caring for unprofitable cases.  Our aim is to stop this!

INTERNATIONAL COMPARISONS
Until recently the NHS has provided outstanding and very cost-effective healthcare.  We've paid less for our healthcare, enjoyed better health outcomes and better satisfaction rates than almost every other country.  Click link above for details of the 2014 Commonwealth Fund study, with NHS data up to 2010.

We are the Hackney and City branch of the national campaign Keep Our NHS Public (KONP). We are campaigning for a publicly funded, publicly provided and publicly accountable National Health Service, both locally and nationally.  We campaign against UK government measures to undermine the NHS by promoting marketisation, privatisation, and fragmentation and against cuts and reductions in NHS services. We aim to highlight and oppose the impact of these UK government policies on our local NHS services. More info.
Hackney Keep Our NHS Public (KONPH)
Next meeting 
Tuesday 24th January 2023 - by zoom
contact [email protected]
new campaigners welcome
KONP national demands:
  • End privatisation of the NHS and bring back government responsibility, ownership and accountability.
  • Repeal the Health and Social Care Act 2012 and enact the Pollock-Roderick NHS Bill;
  • End expensive and compulsory competition, reject the Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership (TTIP) and reverse all foundation trust plans. 
  • Commit to 4% real terms annual increase in funding from taxation to provide a comprehensive, publicly provided, top quality NHS for all, safe staffing levels and fair conditions for staff.
  • Halt harmful cost-driven NHS cuts and closures. Any service reconfigurations must be driven by evidence-based clinical need, not cost, and be subject to meaningful public consultation;
  • Halt all new private finance initiatives (PFIs). Independent review of PFI deals with effective action to reduce unfair PFI debts.

CAMPAIGNING WITH (among many others)

What can we do to save the NHS?
Join our campaigns to save the NHS and protect our rights to comprehensive, high quality health services, free at the point of delivery:
  • follow other links on the website to campaigns in your own area, or specific issues
More info here...