:National Health Action Party

Image:Alex_Ashman,_Iain_Maclennan_and_Clive_Peedell_in_Eastleigh_Feb_2013.jpg.]]

The passage of the Health and Social Care Act in March 2012 prompted the party's co-founder Clive Peedell, a cancer specialist doctor, to co-write an open letter to The Independent alongside esteemed medical signatories.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/ios-letters-medics-launch-national-campaign-7576235.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letters/ios-letters-medics-launch-national-campaign-7576235.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=IoS letters: Medics launch national campaign|website=Independent.co.uk |date=18 March 2012}} The letter was highly critical of the Liberal Democrats for their role in the passage of the Act and stated that the signatories would "form a coalition of healthcare professionals to take on coalition MPs at the next General Election, on the non-party, independent ticket of defending the NHS and acting in the wider public interest". Two months later, on 14 May 2012, Peedell co-founded the NHA Party with retired doctor Richard Taylor, who had twice been elected as MP for Wyre Forest on an 'independent health' component to his local hospital party name.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-18062726 |title=Former MP to lead new political party opposed to NHS changes |publisher=bbc.co.uk |work=BBC News|date=14 May 2012 |access-date=17 June 2012}} The party was launched in Westminster in November 2012.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-20350906/doctors-launch-national-health-action-party-in-london|title=Doctors launch National Health Action party in London|work=BBC News|date=15 November 2012}}

The party first stood in the 2013 Eastleigh by-election, with candidate Dr Iain Maclennan taking 392 votes.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21625726 |title=Eastleigh by-election: Lib Dems hold on despite UKIP surge |publisher=bbc.co.uk |work=BBC News|date=1 March 2013|access-date=10 January 2017}} The party went on to stand in the 2014 European Parliament elections and the 2015 General Election, taking over 20,000 votes in each. This placed the party seventh in the popular vote in England in the latter.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election/2015/results|title=Results of the 2015 General Election - Election 2015|website=BBC News}} The party's best result to date was the 7,211 votes taken by Dr Richard Taylor in Wyre Forest in 2015 (he had been the MP from 2001 to 2010 under the label Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern).{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics/constituencies/E14001058 |title=Wyre Forest Parliamentary constituency |work=BBC News|access-date=10 January 2017}}

Party co-founder Dr Clive Peedell resigned the leadership in July 2016, and Dr Paul Hobday was appointed as interim leader.{{cite journal |url=http://www.bmj.com/content/354/bmj.i3935 |title=National Health Action Party gets interim leader after founder resigns |journal=BMJ |date=14 July 2016 |volume=354 |pages=i3935 |doi=10.1136/bmj.i3935 |access-date=15 July 2016|last1=Iacobucci |first1=Gareth |pmid=27417634 |s2cid=6529526 }} Surgical registrar Dr Alex Ashman was elected as the new permanent party leader in December 2016{{cite web|url=http://nhap.org/agm-2016-exec-results/ |title=AGM 2016 – Ballot Results |access-date=4 January 2017}} and promised to continue the work begun by Drs Peedell and Taylor.{{cite web|url=http://nhaspace.com/2016/12/24/christmas-message-from-the-national-health-action-party/ |title=Christmas message from the National Health Action Party |date=24 December 2016 |access-date=4 January 2017}} Dr Ashman resigned as leader in 2019 and was replaced by co-leaders Alastair Fischer and Veronika Wagner.{{Citation needed|date=August 2022}}

Supporters have included authors Mark Haddon{{cite news | url=https://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/theatre/mark-haddon-the-london-theatre-world-is-so-much-more-alive-than-contemporary-fiction-8530583.html | title=Mark Haddon: 'The London theatre world is so much more alive than contemporary fiction' | publisher=Evening Standard | date=12 March 2013}} and Philip Pullman,{{cite web|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/staggers/2015/05/weeks-magazine-power-struggle |title=In this week's magazine The power struggle |work=newstatesman.com |date=5 May 2015 |access-date=8 May 2015}} satirist Armando Iannucci,{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/whichever-party-spouts-it-talk-of-the-nhs-budget-being-ringfenced-is-a-complete-fallacy-10199469.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/whichever-party-spouts-it-talk-of-the-nhs-budget-being-ringfenced-is-a-complete-fallacy-10199469.html |archive-date=18 June 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Whichever party spouts it, talk of the NHS budget being ring-fenced is a complete fallacy |work=independent.co.uk |date=23 April 2015 |access-date=8 May 2015}} science writer Marcus Chown{{cite web|url=https://www.opendemocracy.net/ournhs/marcus-chown/labour-values-nhs-and-me |title=Labour values, the NHS and me |date=27 August 2015 |access-date=1 May 2017}} and comedian Rufus Hound. Hound stood as an NHA Party candidate in the London constituency for the 2014 European elections.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25900089 |title=Rufus Hound in Euro elections NHS bid |work=BBC News |date=26 January 2014 |access-date=4 August 2014}}

The party has a range of policies on healthcare, political reform, the economy, immigration, housing, education and environmental sustainability.{{cite web |url=http://nhap.org/our-policies-1/ |title=NHA website - Policies |access-date=9 June 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150629235421/http://nhap.org/our-policies-1/ |archive-date=29 June 2015 }}{{cite web |url=https://nhaparty.org/our-policies/our-2017-manifesto/ |title=Our 2017 Manifesto - NHA Party |access-date=4 May 2019 }}

• To reverse privatisation and restore a publicly run NHS that provides universal healthcare.
• To repeal the Health and Social Care Act 2012, remove the internal market and purchaser/provider split, and end use of Private Finance Initiative (PFI) deals.
• To protect the NHS from involvement in international trade agreements such as TTIP.
• To involve patients and staff in NHS decision processes and reduce reliance on management consultants.
• To improve public health, social care, housing and other matters that affect the nation's health.
• To combat gender inequality in healthcare and the workplace
• To demand a moratorium on hospital re-configurations unless there are evidence-based, clinical reasons with local and staff support and adequate alternatives already in place.

• To enact stricter controls on MPs' and Peers' voting when they have a conflict of interest.
• To reform the House of Lords so at least 80% of members are directly elected through single transferable vote, while the remainder are appointed for fixed terms based on expertise in specialist fields
• To review the system of party whips and the practice of voting without attending debate.
• To end the revolving door culture of UK politics.
• To lower the voting age to 16.
• To appoint a commission to investigate a move towards proportional representation.

• To reject austerity and oppose further public spending cuts.
• To increase spending on key public services and infrastructure with a view to increasing the UK's GDP.
• To ensure taxation is progressive and take actions to reduce tax avoidance and evasion.
• To improve regulation of the financial sector, including separation of the retail and investment arms of banks.
• To introduce a living wage, ban zero-hour contracts and work towards a state of minimal unemployment.

File:National Health Action Election Campaign Launch 2015.jpgThe party stood 12 candidates in the 2015 general election.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-2015-england-32519907|title=Election 2015: A party with a prescription for the NHS?|date=30 April 2015|access-date=2 May 2015|work=BBC News}} Targeted seats included those of leading proponents of the Health and Social Care Bill such as David Cameron and Jeremy Hunt. The candidates were:{{cite web|url=http://nhap.org/candidates/|title=Our Euro Election Candidates - NHA Party|website=nhap.org}}

Among the twelve candidates, the party won no seats and only saved two deposits (i.e. won more than 5%). Their best result came in Wyre Forest, where Dr Taylor (who had previously won the seat twice for the Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern party) came 4th with 14.6% of the vote. Dr Irvine came 4th with 8.5% in South West Surrey.

The party stood five candidates at the 2017 general election.{{cite web|url=http://nhap.org/just-when-you-thought-there-couldnt-be-another-election/|title=Just when you thought there couldn't be another election... - NHA Party|website=nhap.org}} Food blogger and activist Jack Monroe was announced as the NHA Party candidate for Southend West,{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39759199|title=Jack Monroe to stand for National Health Action Party|date=29 April 2017|work=BBC News|access-date=1 May 2017}} but withdrew due to ill health and receiving death threats.{{cite news|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/jack-monroe-abandons-bid-to-become-mp-after-death-threats-sent-to-her-home-a3536956.html|title=Jack Monroe abandons MP bid after 'death threats sent to her home'|date=11 May 2017|work=London Evening Standard}} The candidates standing were:

• Keep Our NHS Public

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{{external links|date=June 2022}}

• [https://www.nhaparty.org/ National Health Action Party official website]
• [https://www.facebook.com/NHAparty Facebook]
• [https://twitter.com/NHAparty Twitter]
• [https://www.youtube.com/user/nationalhealthaction YouTube channel]

;Related articles

• [https://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2015/oct/02/nhs-one-way-road-privatisation The NHS is on a one-way road to privatisation]. The Guardian. Published 2 October 2015. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
• [https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/feb/08/surge-in-privatisation-threatening-free-nhs-treatment-unions-say Surge in privatisation threatening free NHS treatment, unions say]. The Guardian. Published 8 February 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
• [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nhs-reinstatement-bill-tory-mps-filibuster-debate-by-talking-about-deporting-foreigners-for-hours-a6925781.html NHS Reinstatement Bill: Tory MPs filibuster debate by talking about deporting foreigners for hours]. The Independent. Published 11 March 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
• [https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/nhs-health-service-healthcare-privatisation-a7160771.html Creeping privatisation of healthcare is damaging the NHS, study finds]. The Independent. Published 28 July 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
• [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nhs-privatisation-charges-professionals-in-house-agency-a7426966.html Government quietly privatises the NHS's in-house agency staff provider]. The Independent. Published 19 November 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2017.
• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-39401540 NHS bosses 'spent half of extra Autumn Statement cash on outside services']. BBC News. Published 27 March 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
• [http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/tory-nhs-privatisation-claim-as-new-health-foundation-figures-show-900m-on-inon-nhs-treatment_uk_58d8fb02e4b03787d35a348d Tory ‘Health Privatisation’ Under Fire £900m Spent On Non-NHS Treatments]. Huffington Post (UK edition). Published 27 March 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2017.

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Category:2012 establishments in the United Kingdom

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Category:Political parties in England

Category:Anti-austerity political parties in the United Kingdom