National Health Action Party

Updated on Nov 19, 2023

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Leader Dr Alex Ashman Headquarters Kidderminster		Founded 14 May 2012 Colours Blue

The National Health Action Party (NHA) is a political party in the United Kingdom.

The party grew out of the movement opposing the 2012 Health and Social Care Act. It campaigns for renationalisation of the privatized parts of the English National Health Service, reductions in outsourcing as well as improvements to NHS funding, service provision and staffing. Despite focusing on health, the party has a range of policies in areas such as the economy, housing and education. These include opposition to austerity and a call for political reform.

Having stood candidates in local and European parliamentary elections in 2014, the party contested 12 seats in the 2015 general election, coming seventh in England according to the popular vote. Surgical registrar Dr Alex Ashman was elected as the party's leader in December 2016 following the resignation of co-founder Clive Peedell earlier that year.

History

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. 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. The party officially launched in Westminster in November 2012.

The party first stood in the 2013 Eastleigh by-election, with candidate Dr Iain Maclennan taking 392 votes. 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. The party's best result to date was the 7,211 votes taken by Dr Richard Taylor in Wyre Forest in 2015.

Party co-founder Dr Clive Peedell resigned the leadership in July 2016, and Dr Paul Hobday was appointed as interim leader. Surgical registrar Dr Alex Ashman was elected as the new permanent party leader in December 2016 and promised to continue the work begun by Drs Peedell and Taylor.

Supporters

As of December 2015 the party has 70,000 followers on Twitter and 23,750 on Facebook.

Cultural figures

Best-selling authors Mark Haddon and Philip Pullman, satirist Armando Iannucci and comedian Rufus Hound. Hound stood as an NHA Party candidate in the London constituency for the 2014 European elections.

Policies

The party has a range of policies on healthcare, political reform, the economy, immigration, housing, education and environmental sustainability.

Health

To reverse perceived 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 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.

Political reform

To enact stricter controls on MPs' and Peers' voting when they have a conflict of interest.

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.

Economy

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

2015 General Election

The party stood 12 candidates at the United Kingdom general election, 2015. Targeted seats included those of leading proponents of the Health and Social Care Bill such as David Cameron and Jeremy Hunt. The candidates were:

Dave Ash – Sutton and Cheam

Roseanne Edwards – Banbury

Rik Evans – Truro and Falmouth

Rebecca Fox – Camberwell and Peckham

Dr Bob Gill – Old Bexley and Sidcup

Dr Paul Hobday – Maidstone and The Weald

Karen Howell – Stafford

Dr Louise Irvine – South West Surrey

Dr Clive Peedell – Witney

Dr Helen Salisbury – Oxford West and Abingdon

Dr Richard Taylor – Wyre Forest

Dr Carl Walker – East Worthing and Shoreham

The twelve candidates collected a total of 20,210 votes and saved two deposits, but none won. Their best result came in Wyre Forst, where Dr Richard 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.

References

National Health Action Party Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

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