Update from WE OWN IT on fight against Centene's takeover of GP surgeries

 

Last week you took action to pressure North West London local health authorities to kick Centene, the profit-greedy US multinational, out of our GPs.  There's no two ways about it, the decision NW London local health leaders ended up making was a mixed bag. They decided to renew Centene’s contract - BUT with a BIG catch. Instead of renewing it for 5 years, as originally suggested by local health officers, they decided to renew it for JUST 2 years.  And they are placing Centene under much stricter patient feedback conditions. So if after the two years patients say that Centene has done a bad job, local leaders will have no excuse to keep them on. This result represents slow but good progress in the fight against private corporations in our GP practices. And this outcome was down to the incredible work you did writing to local health leaders, joining protests, taking action on social media, etc. It is not exactly the win you were going for. But we could never have got this if you had not taken action. You wanted Centene kicked out completely and things are now headed in that direction.  It is time to double down and push harder since it's clear that the pressure you’re applying is being felt. Just to recap some of the amazing work you've been part of, which made this result possible: Thousands of people across the country took action or joined protests on the 22nd of April in our “Get Centene Out” day of action. 24,896 emails were sent to local health leaders to show them the depth of public opposition to Centene. Over 700 people from across the country sent short personal messages to health leaders in North West London in less than 24hrs.  55,721 people have signed the online petition against Centene and many more have signed physical petitions at protests. Almost 200 London councillors from all main parties (including a few Conservatives) have signed our local leaders open letter against Centene. 15,540 people emailed and asked their MP to oppose Centene. 76 MPs from right across the country and from all parties except the Conservatives have now supported the motion in parliament. We are helping Labour’s frontbench primary care team brief MPs about the dangers of companies like Centene running our GP practices.   These and many more actions have forced health authorities to look more critically at Centene. But you need to keep going.   You are already forcing them to take your voice into account in their decisions. This is not the time to let them off the hook. We are planning actions to be announced soon. Local health leaders in areas with Centene GPs need to continue to feel the pressure.  In the meantime, please sign the petition and share it if you have already signed. Thank you so much for the great work that you have done and are still doing. The progress we’ve made would not be possible without you. Cat, Pascale, alice, Chris, Zana and Johnbosco - the We Own it team