UNION members are stepping up the pressure on the Government with a central London rally to stop the Health and Social Care Bill.
Wednesday 7 March will see nurses, midwives, doctors, physiotherapists, managers, paramedics, radiographers, cleaners, porters and other employees from across the health service joining with patients to fill London’s Central Hall in Westminster for a 6pm ‘Save our NHS’ rally.
Hundreds of health service workers from across the North West will be travelling down to London to join the protest.
Andrew Lansley’s Bill is hugely unpopular with NHS employees and patients, who have major concerns that the Bill will force competition and markets on to the NHS, allowing the private sector to take over NHS services.
The ‘All Together for the NHS’ campaign has called the rally amid fears that the NHS will be broken-up, care will worsen and there will be continued uncertainty for NHS employees, with training and terms and conditions likely to suffer.
More professional bodies have been joining the calls to amend significantly or withdraw the Bill completely. The March rally is intended to add to the pressure by demonstrating the broad coalition of opposition to Bill.
TUC Deputy General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Some changes have been made to the Bill but not nearly enough.
“Only this week we have seen a private company taking over an NHS hospital for the first time, as Circle moves in to the Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridgeshire.
“This will be the future the NHS has to look forward to if the Bill stays in its current form.
“Peers must listen to the concerns of the people that know the NHS best – the staff who work in it. Health workers fear the increased competition and the extension of markets will have a devastating impact on patient care, especially poorer people who will find themselves pushed to the back of ever-growing waiting lists.
“But it’s not too late for peers to make a difference and we hope our rally in early March will provide the opportunity for NHS workers and patients to send a loud message across Parliament Square to convince the House of Lords that this Bill would be a disaster for the NHS.”
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Dying for profit from privatisation?
Even the advocates of privatisation know it never has or will improve a public service. Any service ever privatised; prices go up to feed multi-billion profits, quality of service goes down & wages paid to non executive staff are cut to increase profits.
Privatisation is simply another opportunity for the very affluent, who will benefit most from share ownership, to extract further wealth from the general public.
Public service is too valuable to corrupt with the profit motive. Hidden behind the myth of competition is the profit paradox; the most lucrative practice is to cut service provided to the very minimum the market necessitated toothless regulatory bodies can enforce. Poly Implant Prothese; a tragic illustration. Affected women deserve all help possible, regardless of cost (or profitability).