From the ground up: Examining Political Participation in the ‘Save our NHS’ Movement.
The National Health Service (NHS,) “when founded in 1948 post-war Britain, was a testament of the Government’s Social Contract with its population.” (Leatherman, S. and Sutherland, K., 2003, p.3.) Providing Universal healthcare to citizens regardless of their socioeconomic status, the NHS is a beacon of the United Kingdom’s social fabric. However, since its establishment, there have been many challenges, which have threatened the NHS. As a result, grassroots movements, such as; ‘Save our NHS,’ have emerged to preserve and change these threats. With a heavy social media presence, and use of political participation, these grassroots movements, have become a means of change for healthcare policy, tackling political challenges in the hope to save the NHS.
Mobilising The Grassroots Movement
‘Save Our NHS,’ was activated by a grassroots movement, aiming to address the challenges faced by the NHS. These grievances, include, budget cuts, shifting demographic structures, and threats of privatisation. (Moskovitz, L. and Garcia-Lorenzo, L., 2016.) Public support for the Movement has manifested through campaigners and voluntary groups (Crane, J., 2019,) as well as protests, petitions and the use of social media.
The Covid- 19 pandemic and its effect on the NHS exemplified the importance of a Grassroots movement, for eliciting change in UK healthcare and its policies. Hospital staff were overworked in unsafe environments without the correct PPE. (Azam, Rehana, 2021.) Public support grew, rallying in support for effective change for the NHS.
Difficulties in Policy Engagement
Despite the abundance of support for the movement, difficulties in engaging with policymakers have prevented influencing effective healthcare policies. “The job of the Government is to provide the resources and reforms that will enable the NHS to harness them for the common good.” (Siddique, Haroon, 2018.) However, The complex nature of Healthcare policies creates challenges for grassroots activists, by limiting their ability to engage in policy debates, due to a lack of expert knowledge. Furthermore, implementing National healthcare policies has proved difficult due to partisan divides whereby internal party divides as well as; political opposition have made it difficult for grassroots movements to succeed.
A report by The Kings Fund 2023 found;
- 48% of the public would support the government increasing taxes and spending more on the NHS.
- The 2023 survey recorded the lowest levels of satisfaction since the survey began in 1983 – only 24% of the public are satisfied with the NHS, and only 13% are satisfied with social care.
- Despite low levels of public satisfaction, a large majority of the public still support the principles of the NHS.
Successes of the Grassroots Movement
However, while challenges to legislation remain prevalent, the ‘Save our NHS,’ campaign has had enormous success in spreading public awareness of the imminent threats to the NHS and fostering support within communities, most notably the online success of the movement. “The Keep Our NHS Public website includes multiple petitions to Parliament: one, on COVID mitigations and access to testing, signed by over 425,000 people, and another, calling for the Health Secretary to Rebuild the NHS (#endthecrisis), signed by 22,836.” (Stewart, E.A, 2023.) Governments have been compelled by the movement’s efforts to reevaluate plans for cuts, privatisation, and austerity measures that might jeopardise the stability of the healthcare system.
The future of the NHS and Grassroots movements
Moving forward, by harnessing the power of political participation, grassroots activism within the ‘Save Our NHS’ movement can continue to drive meaningful impact. Public health and prevention should also be given far higher attention. The intricate array of factors influencing population health necessitates cooperation between the NHS, local authorities, non-profit organisations, employers, and other stakeholders. Additionally, government action will be necessary. (The Kings Fund, 2016.) The Save Our NHS movement’s grassroots activity can continue to propel significant change and guarantee that the NHS is a shining example of social justice and healthcare equity for future generations
To Conclude
As the fifth largest organisation, and the largest health care system in the world, the NHS plays a key role in shaping both health and social care in the UK.” Faced by imminent threats and at risk of privatisation, it is evident that the use of grassroots movements, such as ‘Save our NHS,’ is vital to the future of the NHS. Public support and engagement will continue to spread awareness and put pressure on Policy-makers in order to access better funding, for safe Universal Healthcare.
Reference List
- Azam, R. and Azam, R. (2021) We need a grassroots campaign to save the NHS, Tribune. Available at: https://tribunemag.co.uk/2021/02/we-need-a-grassroots-campaign-to-save-the-nhs/.
- Crane, J., 2019. ‘Save our NHS’: activism, information-based expertise and the ‘new times’ of the 1980s. Contemporary British History, 33(1), pp.52-74
- Leatherman, S. and Sutherland, K., 2003. The quest for quality in the NHS. A mid-term evaluation of the ten-year quality agenda. The Nuffield Trust. London.
- Moskovitz, L. and Garcia-Lorenzo, L., 2016. Changing the NHS a Day at a Time: The Role of Enactment in the Mobilisation and Prefiguration of Change. Journal of Social and Political Psychology, 4(1), pp.196-219
- 2023, Public satisfaction with the NHS and Social Care in 2023. Available at: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/reports/public-satisfaction-nhs-social-care-2023.
- Siddique, Haroon, 2018. How to save the NHS: experts offer their big ideas, How to save the NHS: experts offer their big ideas | NHS | The Guardian
- Stewart, E. A. (2023). Campaigning for the NHS. In How Britain Loves the NHS: Practices of Care and Contestation (1st ed., pp. 70–86). Bristol University Press.
- 2016, Tackling the growing crisis in the NHS | The King’s Fund. Available at: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/insight-and-analysis/long-reads/crisis-nhs-agenda-for-action.
This article has an informative introduction with an interesting topic of focus. The author explains the issues the NHS faces in a concise and helpful manners, they reference the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the state of the healthcare system. The author highlights the difficulty of initiating policy that protects the interests of healthcare works due to the Tories’ attempts to privatise the NHS. The author emphasizes that there is a lot of grassroots support for the movement of protecting the NHS amongst the public and that awareness for the cause continues to grow. Overall, a great and informative article of a very relevant movement!
This post demonstrates a very good foundation knowledge on the origination of the NHS, and the formation of the ‘Save our NHS’ Movement. They have explained the current circumstances of the NHS very thoroughly, and the difficulties that the organisation faces.
The author has explained comprehensively explained the difficulties in political engagement for organisations such as the NHS, due to its intrinsic importance within the UK as the healthcare system. It has been highlighted how important it is for the NHS to have a ‘grassroots’ movement campaigning on their behalf to policy makers. In light of recent health care crises such as COVID-19, and grievances such as budget cuts and long waiting lists that threaten the operation of the NHS, it is evident an external body is needed to invoke support. While the author has argued their case very well, it may have been useful to explain what is meant by a grassroot organisation, and why this specific type of support group is more useful to the NHS. While it is evident that the Movement is campaigning to ‘Save’ the NHS, it may have been beneficially to list some of the more specific wants of the Movement at this particular time e.g., better pay for junior doctors, more sociable hours etc.
Overall, this is a very well written and informative piece on the current status of the ‘Save our NHS’ Movement and the NHS.
Your blog post presents a very good overview of the challenges and successes of the ‘Save Our NHS’ grassroots movement. It’s evident that your analysis is rooted in a deep understanding of the complexities involved.
You’ve done a good job highlighting the importance of grassroots activism in raising awareness about the threats faced by the NHS. It was interesting to read about the movement’s use of social media and public engagement strategies which has been instrumental in garnering support and pressuring policymakers to reconsider damaging policies.
However, you also acknowledge the difficulties in translating public support into actual policy changes. The complex nature of healthcare policies, along with partisan divides, presents significant obstacles for grassroots activists. This nuanced understanding was exemplified very well and was very informative for the reader.
On the positive side, your blog effectively highlights the successes of the movement, particularly in raising public awareness and influencing government decisions. By citing specific examples of online petitions and their impact, you highlight the tangible results of grassroots activism.
Looking ahead, your emphasis on the need for continued political participation and collaboration among stakeholders reflects a forward-thinking approach. By advocating for increased attention to public health and prevention, you demonstrate a commitment to long-term solutions.
In conclusion, your blog offers a balanced assessment of the challenges and opportunities facing the NHS and grassroots movements like ‘Save Our NHS.’
Immediately, the title sets the agenda for the blog post, this is a very constructive way to engage readers and establish the core issue being discussed. Additionally, the author has effectively used subheadings to break up the blog and provide a clear structure. Furthermore, I particularly liked the use of statistics to support the difficulties with Policy engagements, as the author stated that “only 24% of the public are with the NHS, and only 13% are satisfied with social care.” The use of the statistic conveys to the reader how dissatisfied the UK’s public is with the NHS. Whilst, the author has a clear structure to their blog and successfully examines Political Participation behind the ‘Save our NHS’ Movement, I would have liked to have seen a definition provided for the Grassroots Movements, as a reader without knowledge on the topic would fail to understand the basics of the blog. Moreover, the author briefly mentions how Covid-19 impacted healthcare professionals but doesn’t elaborate on the struggles the NHS had during the pandemic. A clever way to utilise the Covid-19 argument, for future references, would be to convey how the NHS gathered further support from the public as a result of the overrun hospitals.
A source the author could explore when addressing Covid-19 is:
BMA (2022). The Impact of the Pandemic on the Medical Profession BMA Covid Review 2. [online] Available at: https://www.bma.org.uk/media/5620/20220141-bma-covid-review-report-2-the-impact-of-the-pandemic-on-the-medical-profession-final.pdf.
Overall, a very interesting read that I thoroughly enjoyed.
This article is great because it highlights the problems the NHS is facing through a grassroots lens. The blog is finely put and explains the public dissatisfaction really well. I found the statistics on Tax in relation to NHS spending really interesting and highlights the public appreciation of the NHS. It may have been helpful to have a stronger argument and analysis on the threat of privatisation and the Anglo-Americanisation of healthcare that the Conservative government have tried to covertly push through.
This blog post provided both the challenges and successes of the grassroots movement ‘Save our NHS.’ The discussion of the challenges faced by the movement have implications beyond ‘Save our NHS.’ It would be interesting to explore whether the challenges faced by healthcare activists extend into other areas of activism. Specifically, the challenge of translating grassroots activism into actual policy seems as though it could be a common challenge across issues. Given that the process of policy implementation is often more complex than the principles promoting the creation of that policy. Overall, the author provides a clear outline of the challenges and successes of grassroots activism in healthcare.
I thought that this blog post was a very interesting read, especially considering the political weight that current exists behind the NHS now within British politics. The author began their blog post by describing the history of political support for the NHS that is derived from the health services series of financial grievances, and the threat of external sources taking over the NHS. Furthermore, I appreciated that the author mentioned that COVID and the pandemic grew the political support for the NHS even further, with members of the public calling for a switch in how we deal with our NHS. Furthermore, the author of this blog post has effectively utilised statistics to illustrate that members of the public would in fact be in favour of the government increasing the level of tax to increase the amount of financial aid the NHS would receive. Furthermore, the study also revealed that despite a vast amount of the public believing that the NHS produced a subpar level of care, the public still support the health service. Additionally, the author has also effectively detailed how the movement to save the NHS has had an impact on British politics, with the government shifting away from a policy of further financial cuts to the NHS.
The first noticeable act the author has made with regards to their blog post is the easy structuring. Using the beginning to address historical events that started the NHS, then progressing into contemporary issues, while using headings to separate each separate topic. Beginning the blog with the history of the NHS helps to contextualise the history and importance it is to save the NHS and it is symbolic of life in the UK, holding importance to many, The author also remains unbiased by addressing challenges and grievances the NHS has had to tackle over the years, including budget cuts and demographic changes. The author of the blog post goes on to add the activism of ‘save our NHS’ as an example on each argument made. For example, the argument made on the difficulties of policy engagement, especially surrounding the NHS is rife as we now see more of a partisan divide in the two main parties. Allows for the reader to engage in real-life impacts. Overall, the author brings a successful viewpoint to the ‘save our NHS’ campaign and with the upcoming election this activism has become incredibly important. Overall, the deep analysis and use of academic literature also allows for an enhancement in credibility, but also trust between the reader and author. Overall providing a compelling argument made by the author. The author, however, would have benefitted from a timeline of decreasing support for the NHS or a table on funding issues under each government. Also, highlighting the current example of NHS waiting lists being a massive problem. This would have added further analysis and credibility to the authors argument.
This blog post provides a comprehensive overview of the significance of grassroots movements, such as ‘Save Our NHS,’ in advocating for the preservation and improvement of the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom. While the post effectively highlights the challenges faced by the NHS, particularly in the context of budget cuts, demographic shifts, and threats of privatisation, it also underscores the power of grassroots activism in driving meaningful change in healthcare policy. One aspect that could be further explored is the role of community organising within the ‘Save Our NHS’ movement. By mobilising diverse stakeholders, including healthcare professionals, patients, advocacy groups, and local communities, grassroots movements can amplify their impact and effectively advocate for policy reforms. Additionally, highlighting successful examples of collaborative efforts between grassroots organisations and policymakers could provide insights into effective strategies for influencing healthcare policy. Furthermore, while the post acknowledges the difficulties in engaging with policymakers and navigating partisan divides, it would be beneficial to explore potential solutions to these challenges. For instance, partnerships between activists and policymakers, as well as providing resources and training to enhance advocacy skills, could help bridge the gap between grassroots activism and policy implementation. However, a good insight into the problems facing the NHS!