‘Jabs for jobs’
Labour Health Secretary Wes Streeting has announced a project that is as fantastical as it is dystopian: ‘Jabs for Jobs’.
According to Streeting’s opinion piece in the right-wing Telegraph, it is “widening waistbands” which threaten our NHS and the economy. Obesity is “costing the health service £11bn a year – even more than smoking”.
Never mind Wes’ beloved private contractors and consultancy firms, which are sucking the NHS dry. Just blame lazy overweight people instead!
To kill two birds with one jab, Labour have announced they will trial an injectable weight-loss drug – a knock-off version of Ozempic, no less – on the unemployed, to measure the drug’s impact on “worklessness”.
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In return, Labour are pleased to announce a £279 million investment by pharma giant Lilly, the company which just so happens to produce said injections.
The less said about the drug’s various side effects – vomiting, diarrhoea, loss of vision, and thyroid tumours – the better.
You may have read Huxley’s Brave New World or Orwell’s 1984. But nothing could’ve prepared you for Starmer’s Britain.
While regular treatments would certainly fatten the pockets of the big pharma bosses, it would do nothing to address the root cause of obesity.
Ultra-processed foods are three times cheaper per calorie than healthy foods. And for the same reason, they are incredibly profitable.
Plus, long hours and low wages mean that many workers don’t have the time or money to exercise or make healthy meals.
Meanwhile, one-in-four Britons report skipping a meal as an adult because they couldn’t afford to eat, and one-in-four parents missed meals in the last year to feed their children instead.
Capitalism is to blame for obesity, undernourishment, and unemployment. So Streeting can stick his syringe elsewhere, thank you very much.
Max Bownas, Leeds
Cracking the whip
Not content with forcing overweight people back to work, the Labour frontbench are also driving mentally ill people back into the workforce.
The Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) secretary Liz Kendall has unveiled a plan to send DWP work coaches onto mental health wards… to encourage people with mental illness to start working and stop using benefits.
Mental health charities have warned – and I agree – that this approach carries risks. Patients on acute wards are unwell, hence their admission to a ward.
A special spooky edition of The Communist out now!! pic.twitter.com/uRSwyhL2LE
— Ravi Mistry (@RaVz94) October 23, 2024
Often, their reasons for admission are not purely biological, but also rooted in social issues: poverty, inadequate housing or homelessness, and unemployment. Rushing to get them into work could destabilise their recovery.
Labour maintains that work will help those with mental illness. That might be true if they were given adequate adjustments at work, a fair wage, and a say in how their workplace is run.
But to subject discharged patients to poorly paid, often menial jobs is reminiscent of the infamous workhouses of yesteryear. Not only that, but many full-time workers still require benefits to pay their bills anyway!
For many people living with disabilities, the DWP is not a tool of empowerment, but of benefit sanctions and drudgery.
Capitalism is debilitating: more work days are lost to stress, burnout, and depression than to any other health condition.
To unleash the whip of the DWP on mental health units, without any consultation from the staff and patients on the wards, is harmful and short-sighted.
Reema Malhotra, NHS trainee psychiatrist
Turkey teeth, anyone?
On the tube this morning, I saw an ad which asked: “Who knows when you’ll get a dental appointment…” so come to Istanbul or Antalya instead!
I wish I was surprised. This is the free market’s ‘solution’ to the NHS crisis: fly to the other side of the continent for healthcare! The cost to ourselves and the environment is clear enough.
Olivia Rickson, Wood Green
Rent-a-wheelchair
Wheelshare – a private Israeli company – is exploiting the most vulnerable patients at King’s College Hospital (KCH) by charging £2 per hour for using a wheelchair.
The firm claims that this ensures chairs are returned, but what it really ensures is profit at the expense of patients!
Let’s be clear: patients in need of wheelchairs shouldn’t have to pay to move. This is not innovation; it’s exploitation!
Wheelchairs in King’s College Hospital are being hired out like Boris bikes, costing £2 an hour.
“people arriving at the hospital and unable to walk to A&E are pointed towards a hiring dock full of wheelchairs unlocked by a credit card machine.”https://t.co/ow2vhrqE06 pic.twitter.com/Dy8yz2cXr8
— Ben Claimant 💚 Join a Union (@BenClaimant) October 9, 2024
At a hospital where 39 percent of A&E patients already wait over four hours, charging those unable to stand for hours just to use essential mobility equipment is outrageous.
NHS standards are already crumbling due to the government’s neglect. Now, private companies are leeching profit from the same system’s failures.
And here’s the kicker: KCH doesn’t see a penny from Wheelshare’s profits. That’s right, a private company can drain the pockets of disabled patients without giving anything back to the Trust.
We demand an end to this disgraceful practice. Wheelchairs must be free and accessible for all patients. Healthcare should be about care, not cash. Say NO to Wheelshare’s greed!
KCH worker
