The story of how your NHS was sold off and why you will have to buy private health insurance soon.
The story of how your NHS was sold off and why you will have to buy private health insurance soon.
Economic policy, Health policy, Social services & welfare
Events have spiralled since the first edition of How to Dismantle the NHS in 10 Easy Steps. The junior doctors' strike, the Conservative victory in the 2015 general election, the Corbyn phenomenon, the unexpected Brexit vote and the arguably even more unexpected loss of the Conservative majority in 2017. Further, since writing the first edition, Dr. Youssef El-Gingihy found himself stricken with a life-threatening illness and the NHS doctor became the NHS patient. The fight to save the NHS transformed into a fight for his own life.
Now, fully recovered, Dr. Youssef El-Gingihy returns to his 10 Easy Steps in order to strengthen his original argument and continue what Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, deems 'one of the most fundamental battles we face in a struggle for a British society that works for the many'.
In the year of the 70th anniversary of the NHS, Dr El-Gingihy's insights have never been more vital as our national health service continues to be hit by the privatisation of public services.
New expanded second edition with chapters on junior doctor's strikes and plans for US-style healthcare.
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Like an increasing number of British doctors, El-Gingihy has gone through disbelief, anger and radicalisation at what he sees as the inexorable privatisation of our public health service..How to Dismantle the NHS in Ten Easy Steps is an attempt to translate the changes into plain English..El-Gingihy’s account is enlivened by his experience as a GP serving some of London’s poorest patients. ~ Richard Godwin, Evening Standard
How to Dismantle the NHS in 10 Easy Steps is a precise and devastating explanation of how a public health service - long the envy of the world - is furtively being dismembered for private, corporate gain by the likes of Virgin, Serco et al. The facts laid bare by El-Gingihy cry out for resistance. Arm yourself with this succinct book. ~ New Internationalist
Youssef El-Gingihy’s accessible short book shows us why this attack on our most cherished public service is so important - a process that has been underway since the 1980s under Margaret Thatcher. Youssef provides a wealth of quite incredible information in 71 pages, so if you ever find yourself faced with a Tory offensive, you will be ready for the fight.And it’s not just a Tory problem, El-Gingihy shows that every government over the past thirty years has contributed to the demise of the pride of the UK. Nye Bevan, the creator of the service once said, ‘The NHS will exist as long as there are folk left with the faith to fight for it.’ El-Gingihy’s book provides us with plenty of ammunition for that fight. ~ Cameron Panting, Counterfire
El-Gingihy is a GP in east London. His commitment to the NHS and the NHS ethos of compassion and caring shines through. Step by step, El-Gingihy takes us through the path to the destruction of the NHS, charted not just by the Tories but by New Labour as well. This book is an accessible account of the complexity of 25 years of attacks on the NHS, and tremendously valuable for that. ~ Gill George, RS21 Magazine
The campaign to undermine the NHS is often concealed in Orwellian euphemisms. Dr. Youssef El-Gingihy breaks through this web of deceit with this excellent primer of the who, what, where and why your Health Service is being stolen from you. ~ John Pilger, investigative journalist & filmmaker
Let's imagine something almost unimaginable. The leadership of a country with the world's finest health system, the pride of the nation, decides to dismantle it and replace it by the system that is by far the most costly, bureaucratic, and ineffective in the developed world, apparently under the influence of rigid doctrine (and perhaps greed). Unimaginable, but it appears to be happening, so Youssef El-Gingihy argues, all too persuasively, in his review of the steps being taken to convert the NHS to the failed US model. ~ Noam Chomsky
The fight to maintain the NHS as a public service is one of the most fundamental battles we face today in our struggle for a British society that works for the many. This wonderful, sobering book details how governments have teamed up with corporate and financial elites in an underhand effort to privatise and dismantle the NHS. Crucially, it also proposes solutions for how we can reclaim our NHS and the critical role of the grassroots groups leading this fight we can and must win. ~ Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party
"The Tories are remorseless in undermining the founding principles of the National Health Service. Youssef is a practicing NHS doctor, who has seen the attacks at first hand. His book is an essential weapon in our fightback." ~ Ken Loach , Film director
