Bank fines to fund the NHS?

Ed Balls, the Shadow Chancellor, has called for £1bn in bank fines to be used to fund the NHS. The money has been demanded by the Financial Conduct Authority as a penalty for the banks manipulating currency exchanges.

The NHS has gone backwards since this current government took control, not only is it harder to see a GP but waiting lists in hospitals are on the rise again, A&E departments are in crisis, frontline NHS staff have been cut and most recently the Conservatives are trying to privatise the NHS!

If you need any reminding about how important the NHS is then all you need to do is watch Harry Leslie Smith's NHS speech.

We need to do whatever we can to safeguard the NHS and protect it from declining any further. £1bn from the banks is a brilliant boost to the NHS but this is only a short term fix to these long term problems. What we need is a long term credible plan to fix the NHS and bring it back to the former glory that it was before this Tory led government came into power.

What we need is long term funding (we can't rely on banks being constantly fined for acting wrongly, then again it's a possibility). I suggest a permanent tax on the banks. Only this way can we guarantee a comfortable and viable funding option to help bring the NHS back to what it once was under the hands of the Labour Party.

We also need to de-privatise the parts of the NHS that Cameron has already privatised, or should I say, in the Conservatives terms, reduce the "use of the independent sector" in the NHS.

According the the Financial Times almost £6bn of NHS work was being advertised to the private sector this year, 14% more than last year. The private sector is making a profit out of the NHS, which means a profit from the taxpayers.

We need the NHS to go back to being passionate about caring for the ill and vulnerable not an NHS that is obsessed with privatisation and profits. Only then can we truly reduce costs and increase efficiency.

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