The Green Party supports the Defend Whittington Hospital campaign because we believe in local provision of public services. We are also the only elected political party in Camden that supports the Keep the NHS Public campaign. Labour, Conservatives and Li

The Green Party supports the Defend Whittington Hospital campaign because we believe in local provision of public services. We are also the only elected political party in Camden that supports the Keep the NHS Public campaign.

Labour, Conservatives and Lib Dems have all championed the privatisation agenda (the neo-liberal economic agenda), which has many consequences; including this key one relating to PFIs.

Not only are PFI projects (and Whittington Hospital has just had a big PFI project) more costly than normal public procurement, but the repayments are fixed, so when there is pressure on finances, as there is now, other areas are affected more deeply by cuts because these payments can't be cut. If there are cuts in NHS spending, then PFI payments will become a higher proportion of NHS expenditure simply because they are fixed contracts.

The north central London NHS commissioning body is seeking to close a funding gap estimated to reach �560million per annum by 2016. In January's Camden Council health scrutiny committee, I said that the details of the financial pressure and other governmental obligations the local NHS is under need to be made clear, so that there can be understanding of the reality of the situation and a public debate about how these burdens can best be resolved. We want transparency, not secret plans or decisions behind closed doors.

Local NHS managers may deserve criticism if they conduct themselves in that way, but the main cause of the problem is political, relating to government policies and waste of our money in things like PFIs, Iraq war, Trident, swine-flu vaccines for every person in the country, ID cards, etc.

Einstein said you can't solve a problem with the same level of thinking that created it. There is scope for a massive reduction in NHS expenditure, and it will come from recognition that most of the (drug based) treatment protocols for chronic conditions are absurd and hugely wasteful in terms of money, patient suffering and early deaths (but very profitable for drug companies, which is why they are the way they are).

There are more effective natural/holistic healthcare treatment protocols for most medical conditions, which lead to healing rather than continued suffering and are also significantly cheaper. A lot of people already understand this and pay for natural healthcare themselves, but many cannot afford to do so.

Cllr Adrian Oliver

Green Party, Highgate ward